SIX MONTHS LATER
There was a gaping hole in the heart of Hawkins, and it wasn't the removal of the Byers and Rivers households from the areas that truly caused it, but instead the driving force that sent them away.
The mall had been completely dismantled, sending all of the business back into town and although the owners of downtown shops wanted to cheer, they were under the impression that the destruction of Starcourt that had occurred not by a massive monster from an alternate dimension, but instead a communist ploy that led the deaths of beloved town members Tatum Rivers and Jim Hopper on complete accident.
The tens of missing people from the previous summer remained just that - missing with no explanation.
Although patriotism in Hawkins was at an all-time high during war with the Soviets, the town remained just as oblivious as they always had been.
With the Byers, including a legally adopted Eleven, living in a small town outside of New York City so Jonathan could get the best change to attend NYU in the fall and the Rivers practically fleeing to Washington to start anew with their two long lost children, there were few people left in Hawkins that knew the truth.
And even they needed to leave the town from time to time.
Nancy laid on the horn outside of the Sinclair house, leaning past Mike in the front seat to see the front door swing open.
"Let's go!" Dustin shouted out the window, curls billowing in the January wind as Max and Lucas came running down the driveway. He shoved the door open before sliding to the back, legs bouncing in anticipation.
"It's cold as hell, man," Lucas groaned as he forced the window up, wedging Max between him and Dustin.
"Everybody ready?" Nancy asked as she floored the gas, more than ready to leave.
One of the more interesting aspects of Nancy's final year of high school wasn't that her boyfriend lived ten hours away, but instead that she had to share the school with the kids that she fought to hell and back with.
Not to mention, being cool with Nancy Wheeler only advanced their freshman status to top tier, making it smooth sailing for them all.
If smooth sailing was that their party lacked their beloved mage and cleric.
"Nance, have you heard about school?" Max asked as she rested under Lucas' arm, her fiery red hair tied in long braids.
Racing past the 'Leaving Hawkins' sign, Nancy smiled softly. "I got into Indiana, and Michigan." Glancing over her shoulder, she was met with curious, raised brows. "And NYU."
A cheer erupted in the car, Dustin forcing Nancy to high five him over the back seat.
"Have you told Jonathan yet?" Lucas asked, toying with the end of Max's braid only to be swatted away.
"I haven't had a chance to call him yet," she replied with a light shrug. "I just got the acceptance letter today."
Dustin rested his head back on the seat. "You should call him when we get to there."
"Did you guys get the book?"
Although hushed responses in agreement came, the car descended into silence for the rest of the drive.
||
"Billy Hargrove, I was told I had mail to pick up."
A mail worker took Billy's student I.D across the desk, glancing over it before disappearing deeper into the mail room. She returned quickly, handing a package and his I.D. back with a friendly smile.
"See you in class," he replied mildly, tucking his card back into his wallet as he parted from the mail room nestled in the back of the student union building. He ran a hand through close cropped hair, his mullet long gone and instead only left with a small mountain of curls on top.
The winter breeze hit hard as Billy pushed through the hefty double doors of the building packed with students, forcing him to pull his denim jacket closer around him as he braced the walk across campus.
Billy flipped the large yellow package over in his hands, running a thumb along the name neatly penned in the top corner.
The Rivers Family
He took a soft sigh, distracted by a handful of greetings as he trekked the well-known path from the student union to the clutter of towering dorm buildings. He tore the end off the package and stuffed it into his pocket, sliding out a folded piece of yellow legal paper scrawled in familiar writing.
Billy,
I hope you're doing well and enjoying the new semester. Your mother has been a great contact for us out here in Washington. Nina is liking the new school so far and Ben is working a security gig for a local business. We miss Hawkins often and wish that things were different, but this is how it has to be. I'm glad that you were able to come visit over the break and hope to see you soon. Let me know if any problems come up with tuition – everything should be paid for but call me if they give you any kind of trouble. We miss her every day and we know you do, too. Hopefully this will allow her memory to live on and inspire others to love their friends endlessly and fight for what they believe in. She kept us all safe.
- Jordan
Billy folded the letter in half and pressed it into the back pocket of his jeans before reaching back into the package and retrieving a dense, paperback novel.
Fallout by Jordan Rivers
He ran a hand along the sleek cover donning a dark tree line and a faceless brunette with her hand outstretched towards the reader. Shaking his head lightly, he pulled open the outer door of his apartment building against the harsh wind and ducked inside. As he climbed the stairs slowly, he flipped to the dedication page.
For Tatum,
All hail the Queen
Billy smiled to himself as he closed the book, tucking it under his arm as he grappled for his keys, unlocking apartment 207 and wedging the door open.
"Hey!"
Billy's head shot up to a chorus of greeting, the scraggly furniture of the slim living room covered in high schoolers. He grinned lightly, setting the tattered envelope and book on the counter of their poor excuse of a kitchen. "You guys are early."
Just as he shut the door behind him, Max engulfed him in a hug and squeezed him tight.
"The roomie is home!" Steve appeared from one of two bedrooms in the cramped apartment-style dorm. "Now the party can start."
"Please don't call me that," Billy remarked with half a smile as he set his backpack down. He rested an elbow against the counter, no space left on the sofas for him to take a seat. "Are you guys ready?"
"Actually..." Dustin raised an innocent hand. "We're not quite ready yet."
Billy jumped back as the door knob began to turn, slow and perfectly creepy.
"Who else is coming?" Lucas asked, brows furrowed.
The door squealed open, no hand on the other side pushing it in.
"Boo!"
Eleven and Will jumped through the threshold with wide smiles, a light drip of blood coming from the brunette's nose.
Billy cracked a grin as he snagged a tissue from the counter, holding it out to her as the others rose from the couches in a commotion.
"Hey, man," said Jonathan as he stepped into the apartment behind the teenagers, clapping a hand on Billy's back warmly.
Nancy's grin grew wide as she let go of a tight hug on Eleven, practically pushing past the others as she tackled Jonathan. "You guys came all the way here?" she asked between kisses.
"We wouldn't miss it."
Will and Billy exchanged a short handshake, the two bonded in a way much different than the others.
Steve let out an excited laugh, clapping his hands together. "Now this is what I'm talking about!"
Jonathan ran a hand along the cover of Jordan's book sitting on the counter, glancing to Billy. "You got your copy."
Billy nodded lightly, the freshman still wrapped around one another and catching up on what life had been like in the past few months. "Read yours yet?"
With his arm looped around Nancy's waist, he shook his head. "Not yet. It might take me a while to bring myself to it."
"Me too," Nancy agreed. "The dedication is sweet, though. That's what you had engraved on her lighter, right? The British flag one you got her?"
He grinned. "Yeah, it was."
"Were you ever able to find it?" asked Steve, emerging from the slew of teens and joining those of his own age in the small kitchen. "The zippo?"
Recountings of the first semester of high school rattled off in the background, epic fails in gym class and taking over the A/V club from the seniors by sheer tact.
"No, I never did," Billy replied, absently folding his arms over his chest. "Her dad gave me a few of her things, but it wasn't with them. I asked about it, too, but Jordan didn't remember getting it back from the hospital. I'm not sure where it is."
The question of if it was buried with her crossed all of their minds, but no one voiced it.
Steve cleared his throat as a silent moment passed. "Alright, guys. Everyone ready? We'll have to take separate cars because mine's already full." He pointed a finger gun in Dustin's direction. "Dusty Bun, shotgun."
"You guys are never going to let that go, are you?" Dustin groaned as the group began to file out of the apartment.
Will slapped a hand on Dustin's back as they descended the stairs. "Absolutely not."
They all filtered out into the cold, splitting into three vehicles and roaring off campus. Soft conversations of catch up flowed between them all, the gangly group more than happy to be reunited after so long apart.
"How's living with Steve?" Max asked from the passenger seat of the camaro, cranking up the heat and warming her hands in front of the vents.
"There are definitely days that I miss having the dorm all to myself," he admitted, earning a laugh from Lucas and Will in the back. "And it's only been a week since he moved in for the new semester, but it's been alright. It's better than trying to explain waking up from nightmares to someone that'll just think you're crazy."
"Amen to that," Lucas mused. "I don't remember the last time I slept well."
Will stared out the window, the scape of middle Indiana dusted in snow. "I hear her voice sometimes," he said quietly.
Max's brows furrowed, biting her lip. "Me too."
"So do I," Lucas admitted, eyes flickering about the car before landing on Billy. "Do you?"
Billy's lips parted softly before closing. "I do, but it always feels like a memory. At least I tell myself that."
"Do you think it means something?"
Max shot Lucas a dirty look, shaking her as subtly as she could.
"What do you mean?" Billy asked with a quirked brow.
"Nothing," he quickly replied. "I didn't mean anything."
"What, uh..." Billy tapped the steering wheel mildly, following close behind Steve's BMW. "What kind of stuff do you hear her saying? Is it...anything in particular?"
Will and Lucas exchanged cautious looks, but there was no way not to proceed.
Lucas ran a hand along his jaw, stubble growing in for the first time in his life. "Just, uh, 'I love you' and 'I miss you'."
"I've heard 'I'm sorry' before," Max said, staring at her hands.
"I hear her sing The Clash." Will discreetly wiped a tear from his face, averting his eyes from his friends.
Billy pulled off where Steve did, parking the car behind and killing the engine. "Let's not mention this to the others, okay?" he asked as he turned over his shoulder. "It's supposed to be a good day."
Max, Will and Lucas nodded quickly, taking a cooling breath before stepping out of the camaro with smiles to match the others.
"One for everybody," Steve said as he popped open the back door of his car, handing balloon strings out as a line formed behind him.
Once everyone had a balloon, the group lined up just behind the fencing of an overlook that viewed down into the quarry, and although they weren't in Hawkins, it was still shared water with home.
"Does anyone want to say something?" Nancy asked, fingers intertwined with Jonathan's as she gripped the balloon tight.
"I will," Max said, tucked under Billy's arm instead of her boyfriend's. "Um..." She let her eyes fall on the quarry, recounting several trips to Hawkins access where they had lake days the second the water was warm enough. She smiled at the thought of the ultimate chicken fight, where she and Tatum beat Steve and Dustin three times before they finally gave up. "Tate, you were the most badass person I've ever known. We rocked out on the way to and from school, and it was the highlight of my day getting to be in that wicked Jeep with you. You made Billy not an asshole, which was an amazing feat of strength." She grinned as tears welled in her eyes, squeezed tight against Billy. "We miss you, every day."
"School's not the same without you here," Steve piped up, only one of the two in the group that didn't get to be with her in her final moments. "I know you would have loved it. And you absolutely would have put the fraternities to shame. It was supposed to be you and me taking on IU together, but I guess I'll settle with Billy and praying he doesn't try to kill me...again." He grinned , earning a light shove from his roommate. "We love you, T. Our reigning Keg Queen."
Nancy bit her lip softly. "You were the best friend a girl could ask for. You kept me on my toes and you kept me sane. And I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you like I should have. In a matter of weeks we were so close, and it was like we'd known each other forever. You're unforgettable. You're the epic hero of our story."
"We're alive because of you, Tate." Mike pressed a kiss against El's temple, an arm slung around her waist. "We won't waste the second chance that you gave us."
That's all that matters.
Billy's eyes squeezed shut as her voice flowed through his head, wiping his cheek against the collar of his jacket.
"Happy Birthday, Tatum."
Together, they let go of their balloons, watching them trail up into the sky until they disappeared into the white, winter clouds.
I love you.
And although they all heard it, they weren't brave enough to speak up.