-june 29th 1985-
-reader's pov-
"made it." dustin announced whilst dumping his heavy bag at the top of the grassy hill.
"yeah, only took five hours." max sassed as everyone else removed the backpacks and duffel bags that they had lugged up the hill.
"I'm so thirsty." lucas said as he pulled out the water bottle and began to chug at it. max, el and I just watched, our smiles fading by the second.
"did you seriously just drink the rest of our water?" max asked sarcastically.
lucas poured some water from his mouth back into the bottle before offering it to max with a friendly grin. she just shook her head before marching off.
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as a team, we all prepared and set up dustin's cerebro. max and lucas worked on the antennas before we all connected the metal poles. dustin wrapped some tin foil around a certain part whilst el and I intertwined a slinky with the antennas.
eventually, it was all finished and we lifted it up together.
"pretty impressive, right?" dustin said.
"mhm." I agreed, "but I'm also pretty tired." I then fell back down onto my back to rest.
"alright, so you ready to meet my love?" dustin asked as el took a seat next to me on the hilltop.
"sure." we all replied before I reached out to hold el's hand. she instantly slipped her own hand into mine before I gave it a light squeeze.
dustin knelt down and held the
mini-radio, he pressed the button before speaking, "suzie, this is dustin. do you copy? over." dustin just got radio static in response. "one sec.. she's probably.. she's still there." he pressed down on the button again, "suzie? this is dustin, do you copy? over."
everyone found themselves starting to grow a little impatient.
"I'm sure she's there. It's just-" dustin began, "maybe she's just like busy or something-"
"yeah." lucas agreed plainly.
"it's around dinnertime." dustin informed.
"yep." max nodded with pursed lips.
"suzie? do you copy? this is dustin, over." dustin repeated into the radio, but yet again there was no response.
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the sky was no longer a mix of orange and yellow, it was now draped with a murky dark-blue colour.
dustin must have been repeating the same thing into the radio for at least 2 hours now.
my arm was loosely wrapped around eleven's waist as I was slowly starting to drift off. her fingertips were tangled in my hair as slow breaths slipped her lips, despite the fact that she wasn't sleeping.
"suzie-" dustin started but was interrupted.
"dustin, come on! she's not there!" max snapped, the sudden new voice caused me to stir and open my eyes fully.
"she's there, alright?" dustin replied, "she'll pick up!"
"maybe cerebro doesn't work?" el offered whilst peeking her head up.
"-or maybe suzie doesn't exist." lucas added.
"she exists!" dustin retorted.
"she's a genius and hotter than phoebe cates?" lucas remarked, "no girl is that perfect."
"is that so?" max slyly said as she sat up.
"I mean.." lucas stammered, "you're perfect.. I- I mean.. like, per- perfect in your own way. in your special- your own special way." he finished with a smile before max began to chuckle.
"relax, I was teasing." she assured, "I'm obviously perfect and dustin's obviously lying."
dustin seemed a little taken back by this comment and his facial expressions seemed to drop a little.
"cmon, don juan." max said to lucas before giving him hand as he stood up.
"where are you going?" dustin called after the couple.
"home." max replied as the two walked back down the hill.
"well, guess it's just us guys now." dustin said once lucas and max were out of sight.
"um, I dunno, man.." I awkwardly said whilst standing up, "it's getting late.." I offered a hand to el. she took it before I pulled her up.
"sorry.." she apologised as I nodded.
"it's not that we don't believe you.." I added, "it's just- I dunno.." I reached over to pat dustin's shoulder softly, "sorry man."
"welcome.. home." el smiled weakly before she took my hand and we made our way back down the hill.
-june 30th 1985-
I gave the door to hop's cabin a gentle knock. a few seconds later, it was opened by jim.
"hi hop." I beamed.
"hey n/n, she's in her room." he grinned before stepping aside to let me in. I shot him a thankful smile before making my way to el's room.
"hey el!-" I began but was cut off by her attacking me with a warm hug, "y-you alright?" I chuckled out.
"yes, you?" she replied before pulling out of the hug.
"I'm good, thanks." I told her before swinging my bag off my shoulders and unzipping it. el watched with curiosity as I pulled out a certain movie tape.
"the day of the dead." I announced proudly whilst handing her the tape. her eyes widened with interest as she looked down at the object.
"alright, girls. I'm going to work now!-" hopper called out from the living room.
"okay! bye dad!" el shouted back, the next thing we heard was the front door being closed.
"okay, so. basically, today we could either watch this movie or, I was thinking we could go to the mall with max because I've called already her and she's up to it, and I know that's-" I began but was cut off.
"against the rules." el reminded.
"yeah, I know but.. hopper doesn't have to know. we'll be back by the time he gets home, plus maybe we could all have a sleepover? at one of our houses." I offered, el looked lost in thought before she answered.
"okay, sure. why not?" she smiled.
"great! let's go!" I exclaimed before grabbing her hand and pulling her outside to where I had left my bike.
she clambered on behind me and once she was on, I kicked at the pedals. the wheels began to roll as we sped through the woods, heading for max's house.