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The phone on his bedside table rang and Jim Hopper immediately knew who is was.
“Hey Joyce,” he mumbled into the receiver.
A late night phone call from Joyce was not uncommon. The calls had started that fall, after everything with Will happened, and they were still going on although now that they were dating the calls had become more adult in nature.
“Hop! It’s so late! I’m so sorry to be calling you!” Hopper could barely hear her over the music in the background and knew that this was not one of her usual late night calls.
“It’s okay.” He sat up in bed. “Where are you?”
She didn’t say anything and for a moment he was worried she wasn’t there. Finally she said,”A bar?”
“A bar?” He tried not to laugh. “What are you doing in a bar?”
“It was Karen’s idea.”
“Don’t blame me!” Karen shouted in the background.
“Do you need me to pick you up?”
“Please?”
---
It had been a long time since he’d been in here but it looked like nothing had changed, not even the girl behind the bar.
“Well, well, well, Chief Hopper.” She smiled. “Long time no see. Come for a drink?”
“No. I’m here to pick up some friends: Joyce Byers and Karen Wheeler. Have you seen them?”
“Yeah.” She pointed to the end of the bar where Karen was propped up against the wall crying on Joyce’s shoulder. It was like high school all over again.
“You two looking to party?”
“Hopper!” Joyce exclaimed. “Karen sweetie, Hopper’s here to take us home.”
“I don’t care,” Karen sobbed.
“Okay.” Joyce rubbed circles on her friend’s back while she looked over at Hopper, her tired, glossy eyes screaming ‘Please help.’
“Alright Karen,” Hopper bent down to Karen’s eye level “first you need to stop crying.” Karen took a few deep breaths and lifted to her head to look at Hopper. “Good. Now I’m taking you home or I’m taking you to jail. It’s your choice.”
“Okay.” Karen nodded her head and the pulled herself off the barstool, stumbling a little in the process.
“Woah.” Hopper reached out to steady Karen. “Let me help you out there.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and then with his other hand he reached out for Joyce.
“I’m good.” She shook her head. “I can walk.”
“You sure?” Hopper raised an eyebrow. Chrissy Carpenter’s homecoming party senior year instantly came to mind. She’d said those same words and almost immediately after she’d tripped over a curb and had to get six stitches in her chin.
“I’m not drunk.” She said a little to emphatically and then added, “Just walk slow.”
“Alright.” He chuckled and the three made their way to the parking lot.
“Thank you,” Joyce whispered as Hopper helped her into his car.“For you know, tonight.”
“Don’t mention it. But this isn’t going to become a regular occurance is it?”
“No.” Joyce shook her head. “She’s just been having a hard time lately with...everything.”
Hopper knew what she was talking about, hell by now the whole town knew about the fight between Karen and Ted that ended with Ted packing a bag and checking into a local motel. That was a week ago and apparently they hadn’t kissed and made up yet.
“My kids are never going to let me live this down.” Karen grumbled as she poured herself into the passengers seat. “They’re going to use this as ammunition.”
“They’re going to understand.” Joyce told her.
“No they’re not.” She was crying again. “They’re going to use this against me. Ted’s going to get custody and I’m never going to see them again.”
Hopper sighed and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Karen listen, my car, my rules. And rule number one is no crying in the car.”
She rolled her red, puffy eyes at him. “What’s rule number two?”
“No throwing up in the car.”
Karen scoffed. “Anyone with kids would know that’s automatically rule number one.”
“Low blow Karen,” Joyce whispered to her while Hopper shook his head and started up the car.
“Well this’ll be a fun drive home,” He mumbled under his breath.
---
They’d been driving not three minutes before Karen announced that she was going to break rule number two and Hopper immediately pulled over to the side of the road. This was not how he wanted to spend his night, although the fact he was getting a little time with Joyce was nice. It was hard carving out some alone time in between their schedules and the kids.
“I think she’s almost finished,” Joyce said as she climbed in the car, snuggling up next to Hopper.
“You’re freezing!”
“It’s cold for June.”
“Well,” Hopper slid an arm around Joyce. “I can think of a couple things we can do to warm you up.”
“Really?” Joyce wiggled her eyebrows.
“Mhmm.” Hopper nodded and leaned down for a kiss. Their lips had barely touched when they were interrupted by the car door opening.
“Oh gross,” Karen mumbled as she climbed back in the car. “If your going to have sex can you please do it somewhere away from me?” She quickly added, “Like the gas station on Maple.”
Hopper sighed. “Karen I don’t know how that rumor started but we never had sex in a gas station parking lot.”
“I saw you.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry?”
“I saw your dad’s ugly blue car parked by the dumpster. I would have said hi but you know what they say ‘If the car’s rockin’...”
“Do you realize how many people in town had that car?”Hopper asked while Joyce had a question of her own, “Were you the one who told people we had sex in a gas station parking lot?”
“That really wasn’t you?”
“No!” They both shouted.
“Oh. Oops.”
Joyce buried her face in Hopper’s chest. “Can we just go home? Please? I’m so tired.”
“That sounds like a great idea.” Hopper started the car up and they headed down the road.
---
By the time Hopper dropped Karen off and then made it to the Byer’s house Joyce was fast asleep. She looked so peaceful curled up under his arm, he hated to disturb her. But he knew that she had to get inside to her kids and he had to get to his.
“Hey sleeping beauty,” He whispered, running his thumb over Joyce’s cheek.
“Mmm.” She stretched out her arms. “Are we home?”
“Yeah.” He opened the car door. “Come on, I’ll carry you inside.”
“My prince charming,” She laughed as he picked her up and carried her into the house bridal style.
When they got inside he laid her down on the couch.
“Stay here tonight,” Joyce said pulling on the bottom of his tee-shirt.
“I can’t. Jane remember?”
“Right.” Joyce sighed and covered herself with a blanket from the back of the couch. “You should just live here.”
“You’re drunk.”
“I’m serious.”
“What would the kids say?”
“They’d understand. They already think of Jane as a little sister.”
Hopper sighed to himself. He loved the idea: a family for Jane, getting to come home to Joyce at the end of the day. But then reality came in to play. Bob hadn’t even been gone a year yet, and the town was already whispering about their relationship what would everyone say when they found out they were living together?
“Tell you what,” he crouched down beside her. “Ask me again tomorrow and I’ll say yes.”
She smiled at him. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
He kissed her forehead. “I hope so.”