"So what should we do?" El asked, fiddling with her seatbelt. Nancy looked over at her and smiled.
"We are going to get some new clothes," Nancy said, getting out of the car. El followed her, accidentally slamming the door behind her. Mike was heading to summer camp for a few days and Nancy had volunteered to keep El company. She had always wanted a little sister close to her age.
"Ok," El said, following Nancy into the brand new star court mall. El had been in this mall once before with Mike, but she only bought one thing. Hopper had given Nancy a good amount of money so he wouldn't have to buy the clothes for her.
"Let's head in here first," Nancy said, grabbing El's hand and leading her into the store.
"What are your favorite colors? And what kind of clothes do you like?" Nancy asked, holding up a shirt and making a funny face. El giggled.
"Blue. I really like blue," El said, looking at a pair of striped pants.
"Are these cute?" El asked, holding them up. Nancy nodded and continued looking.
"Look for something that matches it," Nancy said while rifling through a rack of fitted shirts. She shook her head and moved down the rack further.
"Like this?" El asked, holding up a light blue t-shirt.
"Exactly like that. You have great taste girl!" Nancy said, flashing her award-winning smile. El smiled back and followed her to the next part of the store.
After scanning through every rack and shelf thoroughly, El had a large pile of clothes she needed to try on. They got a changing room and Nancy sat on the tiny bench outside of it.
"Come out and show me everything!" Nancy exclaimed. El nodded and shut the curtain. Nancy leaned back against the wall scanning the store. There was nothing too exciting here, but this meant the world to El and she was glad she could help her out. After all, she was scared of what Hopper would have picked out for her. The curtain swung open and Nancy looked over.
"How does it look?" El asked, raising her arms. Nancy smiled. El was wearing a striped dress and she looked so darn cute.
"I love it!" Nancy said, leaning forward in her seat.
"I do too," El said, giving a twirl.
"Oh yes, girl!" Nancy said, pointing a finger at her. El giggled and shut the curtain. El undressed and hung the dress back on its hanger, smoothing it out. She put on her striped pants next and put on her matching blue shirt. She stepped out.
"Oh, very nice!" Nancy said. El hit a pose.
"Casual but sophisticated, I like it!" Nancy said, giving a thumbs up. El gave one back and headed back into the changing room, even though she still wasn't a hundred percent sure what sophisticated meant. El looked in the mirror. She liked what she saw. She saw a normal girl, with normal hair and normal clothes. She could be normal and go shopping now. She couldn't believe how far she had come.
After trying on the whole pile, and with the help of Nancy, narrowing it down, they paid and were ready to head to the next store.
"What about Claires?" Nancy asked, pointing to a store full of accessories. El nodded and they headed that way.
"Wow, I do not like these," El said, holding a bow in her hand. Nancy laughed and shook her head.
"No, silly. Come look at the headbands or the earrings."
"I don't have earrings."
"We can get clip-on or stick on," Nancy said, holding up a pair of clip on to El's ear.
"I like these," El said, grabbing a pair of fake pearls. She held them up.
"Cute," Nancy said, "Those would go cute with the dress."
"Yeah," El said, clutching onto the earrings while she walked over to the headbands. She picked up a three pack, one blue, one pink and one green.
"I like this pink one," she said. She held it up to her hair. The vibrant pink color made her hair look even darker, even though her hair had lightened so much due to the summer sun.
"That's super cute," Nancy said, "Let's pay for these."
El followed her up to the cash register where they paid and headed out.
"Anything else you want?" Nancy asked, holding up the leftover cash.
"Ice cream!" El exclaimed, bouncing on her toes.
"Before dinner?" Nancy asked, putting her hand on her heart and faking a shocked expression.
"Please!" El begged, pouting her lip.
"Fine," Nancy said, rolling her eyes, "Don't tell Hopper!"
"I would never!" El laughed, practically running to the ice cream place. Inside was one worker and two teenagers.
"Nancy?" He asked from behind the counter.
"Hey, Steve," She said, setting the shopping bags at her feet. El looked at them.
"El, you remember Steve. Remember when you... Uhh... Came back? He was there," Nancy said, not sure how to phrase this for her. Steve smiled.
"Sure," El said, her face practically pressed up against the glass. She was not paying attention.
"Since when do you hang out with Miss. Nosebleed over here?" Steve asked, his voice lowered. Nancy rolled her eyes.
"I'm keeping her company! Also, I don't trust Hopper to buy clothes for a teenage girl," she said. Steve shrugged.
"Just be safe, I guess," He mumbled. Nancy turned to El, who was still staring at the ice cream.
"Can I get a scoop of the sugarberry swirl?" She asked, pointing at the bright pink and white swirled ice cream. Steve nodded and scooped it into a cup. He handed it to El and turned to Nancy.
"Anything for the babysitter?" He asked. Nancy crossed her arms.
"Fine, fine, I'm just messing with you. Anything for you?" He asked.
"No thanks, how much do I owe?" She asked.
"One fifty," He said. She plopped two dollars into his hand.
"Keep the change," She said, picking up her bags, "And wait... Aren't you the babysitter? You hung out with my brother and his friends for a week straight."
"You're hanging out with his friend right now! And the world was practically ending so..." Steve said, throwing his arms up in defeat. El laughed.
"She's his girlfriend," Nancy said, emphasizing the word. El high-fived Nancy as the strolled out of the store, leaving Steve to laugh at himself.
"Alright, El," Nancy said once they reached the car. El was still slowly eating her ice cream. She slid into the passenger seat.
"Let's get you home alright," Nany said, pulling out of the spot and onto the road. El looked up from her ice cream.
"Already?" El asked, sticking out her bottom lip.
"I told Hopper I would have you home before 4 and it's 3:51."
"Please," El pouted.
"You can leave your garbage in the car so he doesn't see it," Nancy said. El relaxed in her seat a little.
"Ok, thank you," She said in a soft voice. Nancy pulled up to El's house and got up to help her with the bags. Instead of knocking on the front door, El used her powers and slid the lock, walking right inside.
"Jesus, El, I told you not to do that," Hopper said, standing up from the couch wiping crumbs off his shirt. El frowned at him before turning to Nancy.
"Thank you so much," El said, giving her a huge hug. Nancy dropped the bags to hug her back.
"Thanks, kid," Hopper said, trying to hand her a small wad of cash without El seeing.
"Oh, no I don't need anything," Nancy said, shaking her hands and refusing the payment. Hopper cocked his head in confusion.
"It was actually fun," Nancy said, watching El lay her new clothes out on the floor to show Hopper. Hopper smiled and shook his head.
"Have fun," Nancy said, walking out the door. Hopper followed and stood in the doorway.
"Thanks, Nancy, for helping El feel normal. It means a lot to me," Hopper said, looking back at El. She was looking at all her new clothes.
"Oh, it's my pleasure. Mike will be home in about four-"
"Oh, enough about Mike. I think you might be my favorite Wheeler," Hopper said, raising his voice for El to here. Nancy heard a small "Hey" come from the kitchen and laughed.
"I hope so," She said as she slid into her car. She waved to Hopper as she pulled out of the driveway.
Through the window, she could see Hopper sitting on the couch, beaming at how excited El Was about her new clothes.
El showed Hopper all her new clothes and even tried some of them on for him, pretending to walk down a catwalk, which was actually just the hallway. Hopper tried his best to understand everything she was talking about but the only thing he could focus on was how happy she was.
Hopper hoped that she would be this happy every day and he vowed to never settle for anything less.