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Hopper was trying.
He was trying not to be just some guy in Will and Jonathan’s life. He was trying not to overstep his bounds with them and parent where he shouldn’t. He was trying to fit back into the role of El’s father and, now, Joyce’s husband. He provided, he protected, he taught, but… carefully. It was a delicate balance. It required fine tuning and regular maintenance, much like the engine of the old Chevy Cavalier he’d found at Lenny’s junkyard that he’d spent the last few weeks fixing up for El and Will. It had needed new spark plugs, brake pads, a timing belt, and the power steering was acting up every so often, but he scrapped all the necessary parts from around town and was happy to get his hands dirty; it gave him something to focus on other than the harrowing memories of a Russian prison cell that haunted him everywhere he went. He wasn’t a mechanic by any means—something Joyce fondly reminded him every damn day with a playful glimmer in her eye—but he was trying.
The engine roared to life before him, and arms deep in hot engine oil with scattered car parts all over the front lawn atop pieces of scrap cardboard, Hopper victoriously entered the front door and was immediately met by a disapproving scowl from Joyce.
“Don’t touch anything!” she protested, taking in his greasy state with adorably pointed brows. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes but ultimately decided he wasn’t in the mood to start an argument. That was only fun when they had the time to push each other’s buttons straight into bed. He was a man who picked his battles wisely these days. Wiping off his hands on a tattered towel, he grunted an acknowledgment and craned his head towards the hall.
“The kids still home?”
“Yes,” she answered as she puttered around the kitchen. It seemed she, too, liked to keep busy. “They’re in Will’s room. How’s the car?”
“Not pretty, but she’s running,” he answered proudly. “Was thinking about taking it out for a test drive with the kids.”
“They’d like that,” Joyce agreed with a fond smile, closing the cupboard below the sink.
He hesitated, taking a step towards her.
“I could, uh… I could give them their first driving lesson?”
He hadn’t known how to broach the topic. Naturally, he wanted to teach El and even thought it would make a nice father-daughter bonding experience, but with Jonathan away at college and not currently present to fill typical big brother duties like driving lessons, Hopper wasn’t sure if Joyce had intended on showing Will the reins and didn’t want to steal that opportunity away from her if she had. First driving lessons were a big deal, especially for a kid like Will who hadn't exactly had a normal childhood with all the other usual milestones, too preoccupied by getting possessed by smoke monsters from other dimensions. Thank God that was all behind them now.
“Is that okay?” he added, scratching the back of his neck.
She looked up from the dish rack and frowned.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I dunno, I just thought, you know… you’re okay with me teaching Will?”
Was Will okay with him teaching Will?
“I wouldn’t wanna step on your toes or anything,” he clarified.
Joyce shrugged and smiled, giving him a pat on his sweaty chest on her way towards the cupboard, balancing a stack of clean glasses in hand.
“Sure, Hop. I think it’d be nice.” She put the glasses in their place and paused, turning towards him and leaning against the counter with a smirk spreading across her lips. “You don’t trust my driving skills, do you?”
“What?” He laughed, a nervous, stunted chortle, and shifted awkwardly in his place. “No, no, that’s not it.”
Not entirely.
Deeply buried flashbacks of a fifteen year old Joyce Horowitz in the driver’s seat of his dad’s Oldsmobile sent a shot of amusement through him. Would make a hell of a story time for the kids, he mused, but he’d be leaving out the part where they made out after. Probably. The last thing he wanted to do was give a couple of teenagers any ideas on how they could be using their new bed on wheels in their spare time. Hopper shuddered and pushed aside that realization.
“I just thought it’d be a nice way for me to spend some time with them, show them the ropes. You know.” He shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious at admitting that out loud. “But it’s also, like, a monumental thing. I understand if you’d rather handle it.”
Joyce considered, crossing her arms and a thoughtful look playing her features.
“No, it should be you. A little manly bonding would be good for the two of you.”
“Yeah?” he asked, smiling shyly.
“Yeah,” she agreed. But she drew her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing. Clearly she had more to say.
“What?”
“I just… is it okay if I ride along? Seeing my little boy drive for the first time…” It was her turn to smile shyly. “I don’t really wanna miss out.”
“Yeah, of course! We can take the car up to the fairgrounds, the four of us.”
She beamed, and so did he.
“I’ll pack a picnic,” she decided.
“Sounds great.”
“But, Hop?”
“Yeah?”
“Take a damn shower first and please get those clothes in the wash. You look like you bathed in engine oil. Jesus.”
“Yes, dear.”
He chuckled and nodded and carefully made his way into the bathroom, not touching anything along the way so that his beautiful wife couldn’t chastise him for dirtying up the house. He showered, threw his dirty clothes into the washing machine with extra detergent, started up a vigorous spin cycle, and rapped gently on Will’s half-open door where the questionable sounds of modern rock music wafted through the opening.
“Come in,” Will answered.
Hopper pushed open the door and leaned against the frame, smiling at the two teens as they sat cross-legged on the floor drawing and listening to music—if you could call it that. He thought about introducing Will to good ol’ Jim Croce, but maybe that would be overstepping his bounds.
“Hey,” Hopper greeted them with a warm smile. “I just talked to your mom.”
Will and El both stared up at him, brows furrowed curiously.
“Got the car running. You two, uh… wanna take it out for a test run? Get behind the wheel?”
That met him with wide eyes and eager smiles, both of them hustling to their feet.
1957
“Come on, Hop,” Joyce whined, text books clutched tightly to her chest as she struggled to keep up with him in the halls.
“I’ve got a date, Horowitz!” he insisted, shrugging. “I dunno what to tell you. Can’t we take a raincheck?”
“I need to pass my permit test before the end of the school year or else we’ll have to pay extra for summer classes,” she explained. “And Mom doesn’t drive. We don’t even own a car! I haven’t been able to log any practice hours yet, and I’m strapped for time here!” She jogged ahead of him and cut him off, staring up at him with big, hopeful chocolate eyes that made his stomach flutter. Damn her for using her feminine wiles on him. He was only human.
Groaning, he rubbed a hand over his face and peered down at her, mulling over his options. He didn’t mind spending time with Joyce, especially alone, but if he blew off Chrissy again, he’d be blowing his chances of getting lucky tonight or maybe ever again with her. It was a battle between his body and heart, but with the way Joyce was staring up at him with the cutest goddamn pleading face known to mankind, it was clear which one was winning. Damn, he was a softy.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” she threw in, taking a step closer and biting her lip.
His brows shot up.
“Huh?”
“You know…” She smiled shyly, a flirtatious glimmer in her eye that he definitely imagined. Jesus, he needed to pull himself together.
She couldn’t possibly mean…
“I’ll pick you up at six,” he blurted out. “But you owe me, Horowitz.”
“Thank you!”
She beamed and propelled herself onto her tiptoes, giving his cheek a peck before walking backwards down the hall with a wide grin spread across her face.
“You owe me!” he repeated, voice echoing off the lockers.
He spent the rest of the school day unable to focus on his classes, foot tapping nervously on the waxed ceramic tile while Mr. Cooper droned on about some useless shit he’d never be able to use outside of the four walls of Hawkins High.
I’ll make it worth your while.
What the hell had she meant by that?
Hopper drove to the fairgrounds. He’d considered letting one of the kids drive, but without their official learner permits yet secured, Joyce insisted he be behind the wheel until they were off the main roads. Will and El didn’t seem to mind; they just seemed happy to be finally getting a chance at operating a vehicle for the very first time. With all the shit these kids had been through the last few years, Hopper was relieved to be able to give them a shot at normalcy, and it didn’t get much more normal than teaching a couple of fifteen year olds how to drive at the Roane County Fairgrounds—a shining staple of youth for generations.
“Okay,” he murmured, throwing the car in park inside of the wide-open lot. “Who wants to go first?”
“You can,” Will offered generously, smiling over at El.
There was no protest from her. She lit up, unbuckled from the passenger’s seat, and eagerly traded places with Hopper behind the wheel.
“First you wanna adjust the seat and check your mirrors,” he instructed, showing her where the controls were. “Do that every time you get into a car, especially one that multiple people are driving. Safety first.” That got him a noise of approval from his wife in the backseat.
El nodded in understanding, fidgeting around until her feet seemed to comfortably reach the pedals and she could see in her mirrors. While she fastened her seatbelt, Hopper turned around and glanced back at Will and Joyce.
“Everyone buckled?”
“Yup,” Joyce answered, and Will nodded.
Hopper drew in a breath, more excited than he cared to admit, and leveled a smile on El.
“Ready, kid?”
“Ready.”
“Okay. Right pedal is gas, brakes are on the left. You only use your right foot for both of them, though. Here’s your shift. It’s in park right now, but if you press down on the brake, you can shift into drive, neutral, reverse, or manual. We’re gonna start off in drive.”
“What’s—neutral?” El asked.
“You won’t have to use that very often,” he explained. “Neutral separates the engine from the wheels so the car can move, but the controls won’t move it forward or back. For instance, if you get stuck in the snow, you can shift it into neutral to get it towed.”
El nodded. “So—brake and shift to drive?”
“Exactly. And once you’re in drive, put both hands on the wheel at nine and three, and gently give it a little gas. Just a touch. We’re not on the damn freeway. Not yet, at least.”
She shot him a quizzical look.
“Nine and three?”
“Like on a clock. Here.”
Hopper showed her the proper hand placement, and El nodded in understanding, brow knit with deep concentration. He smiled reassuringly.
“You got this, kid.”
Just like instructed, El shifted the car into drive, put her hands firmly on the wheel, and gently pressed the gas pedal. The vehicle lurched into a forward crawl through the empty lot.
“See that fence over there? Why don’t you head in that direction, nice and easy. Press down on the brakes when you get there and throw her in park. Steering should come pretty naturally.”
And it did. El was a natural at driving, it seemed. Arms a little shaky at first, she got the steering part down very quickly and rolled to a stop in front of the fence with maybe a little too much force on the brake, but overall it was a success. She had damn good hand-eye coordination.
“Good! Great job, kid!”
He slapped her back and she beamed proudly, glancing over her shoulder at Joyce and Will, who both gave her encouraging smiles.
“Good job, sweetie!” Joyce chimed.
“Okay, now you’re gonna keep your foot on the brake and shift into reverse, then I want you to try to back up.”
“Okay,” El mumbled, braking and shifting.
“Now give her a little gas and turn your wheel all the way to the right.”
The car crept backwards, and once it was facing the lot again, Hopper gave her a nod.
“Good, now put it back into drive. We’ll take a spin around the edge of the lot a few times.”
El more than got the hang of it, beaming proudly as she gradually picked up speed and circled the parking lot several times.
“Can I go faster?” she asked.
“Sure, kid. Just a little,” Hopper chuckled. It would figure his daughter had a bit of a lead foot. She took after her old man just a little too much. He was gonna have a full head of gray before long, thinking about her speeding around Hawkins with that son of a bitch Mike alone in the car with her. They were definitely gonna have to have another talk about boundaries, and he’d be enlisting Joyce’s help.
Hopper instructed El through several more maneuvers—turns, parks, reversing—until she started to become more and more confident behind the wheel.
“Okay, kid. Why don’t we park back over where we started and let Will take a turn?” He glanced at the teen in the rear view mirror and saw a flash of nerves spread over his face. Clearing his throat and arm leaning out the open window, Hopper drummed his fingers against the side of the car and added, “If you want, of course.”
Will’s eyes darted next to him and settled on his mom, who was quick to give him a smile of warmth and reassurance.
“You got this, baby. Your brother’s a good driver, and you will be, too.”
Will swallowed but nodded, and El parked the car before trading places with Will. Where El had confidently taken up position behind the wheel, Will seemed a little more uncertain, eying the controls and taking extra time adjusting the mirror and seat position before he was satisfied.
“Ready?” Hopper asked, smiling gently.
Will gave a noncommittal shrug and shifted the car into drive.
“Okay,” Hopper instructed, “Nice and easy now.”
The car jerked forward, stuttering as Will stepped on and off the gas and the brakes in rapid succession. Hopper bit his lip.
“The key is fluid motions, nothing sudden or you’re gonna give yourself whiplash,” he told the boy. “We’re in a wide open space, so you don’t have to worry about hitting anything. Just focus on getting a feel for the pedals.”
“Sorry,” Will whispered.
“No, no, you’re fine. Everyone’s first time driving is a little different,” he assured the kid. “Just take your time. Do some laps around the lot until you feel more comfortable.”
Will nodded, gripping the wheel until his knuckles turned white, and began to loop the parking lot, the Cavalier lurching beneath Will’s hesitant control. Hopper finally cleared his throat and rested a hand on Will’s arm, squeezing gently.
“Hey, you okay?”
Will slammed on the brakes, cheeks bright red with embarrassment.
“I suck at this.”
“Nah, you’re just… you’re learning. Gotta build your confidence up.”
Will hung his head and sighed. “Maybe El should drive again.”
“In a little while, sure, but she drove for a half hour, so you get to, too. Fair is fair, okay?” Hopper shot him a gentle smile, and reluctantly, Will threw the car back into drive and continued on around the lot with noticeably less jerking. “See? You’re already getting a feel for her.”
“You’re doing great, sweetie,” Joyce encouraged proudly from the back seat.
Hopper smirked and rubbed his chin. “He’s doing a hell of a lot better than you.”
“Oh, shut up.” Joyce shot him a playful scowl and swatted his shoulder over the seat, and he beamed at her in the mirror, cocking a brow.
“Am I wrong?”
“What… you taught my mom how to drive?” Will asked with a curious smile.
“Yeah. And it was like pulling teeth.”
“It was not that bad,” Joyce huffed, rolling her eyes. “I was just… kinda nervous.”
Hopper snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
“Hey!”
“Jesus, Joyce, you literally screamed all the way down the hill on County Road B!”
That earned him a chorus of laughter from Will and El. Will, who seemed much more relaxed now, was handling the gas with much more grace.
“Not my fault your dad’s car handled like a hunk of junk!”
“There was nothing wrong with my dad’s car, Joyce,” Hopper chuckled, shaking his head.
“What happened?” El asked, grinning. “Can you tell the story?”
Hopper hesitated, glancing over at Will since the small talk did seem to be taking his mind off of his own nerves. He’d have to throw their mother’s reputation under the bus a little, but it seemed worth it to get Will to relax.
“Well, it was a warm spring evening in 1957,” he began. “May, I think.” He glanced at Joyce in the rearview mirror. “Was it May?”
“Yeah, a couple weeks before school let out.”
“She practically begged me to teach her.”
“I did not beg!” Joyce protested, wrinkling her forehead.
Hopper smirked, because maybe she didn’t beg, but she did bargain. And not with anything he could reveal to their children if he didn’t want to sleep on the couch tonight.
El erupted in giggles from the backseat, always seemingly amused by her parents bickering and their prolonged, complicated history. Even Will looked entertained and much more relaxed.
“Hey, I’m telling the story here,” Hopper shot back, digging deep into the far reaches of his memory since it had been almost thirty years. Damn, they were getting old. A smug grin on his face, he continued his tale, making sure to leave out the parts unfit for their kids’ ears.
“Okay, take her nice and easy.”
“Her?”
“Cars are like girls.”
Joyce shot him a scowl. “Yeah? How so?”
“Well, they’ve got nice bodies and require a lot of maintenance.” He smirked.
“Jesus, Hop! You’re disgusting.”
“Just drive, Joyce.”
The car jerked forward, and Jim’s hand flew over to grab Joyce’s arm, his stomach lurching unpleasantly.
“I said nice and easy!”
“I’m trying!”
He sighed and let go of her arm, gesturing towards the pedals as he considered how to explain the process to her.
“I wasn’t lying when I said cars are like women. You gotta be gentle with them, warm them up a little, ease into it first. If you go zero to a hundred, it’s not gonna feel good.”
She rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on the wheel. “Yeah, well, not all of us are sleeping our way through the entire class of sophomore girls in the backseat of our dad’s Oldsmobile, Hop! What the hell does any of that mean?”
He rubbed his face and leaned back in his seat, shrugging.
“Okay, fine, but… I mean, you’re a girl. You know what you like.”
That met him with stark silence as the vehicle continued to jerk forward. He glanced over at her, frowning, and tried to study her face. She was so damn hard to read sometimes. Other girls were easy, he had a system that worked, but Joyce…
“...Right?”
“I don’t know. Look, I thought this was a damn driving lesson, not… sex ed!”
He raised a brow and shot her a curious smile, eying her up and down.
“You haven’t…?”
Her cheeks went crimson. “Jesus, Hop. Can we focus here?!”
“Huh.” He shrugged and gestured towards the lot. “Just make a big loop. Get a feel for it.”
Joyce continued to maneuver them around the fairgrounds, her hands gripping the wheel tight enough that her knuckles went white.
“Hey,” he encouraged gently. “Try to relax, okay? You’re gripping the life out of that thing.”
“Relax? Have you met me?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s just the two of us. There’s nothing to be scared of.”
That earned him a weak smile curling up from the corner of her lips, and she nodded and let her shoulders slump, loosening her grip on the wheel some. They made a couple of laps, her acceleration and braking gradually becoming more fluid and natural.
“Good, good,” he praised. “You’re getting the hang of it.”
“I am?”
“Yeah!” He smiled and leaned back in his seat, relaxing some, too, since he no longer felt like she was gonna give him whiplash around every corner. “So, uh… you really haven’t–”
“No, okay? Now would you just drop it?” she sighed.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry, I just… I thought earlier, you were implying…”
“What?” she snapped.
“You know…” He chewed on the inside of his cheek. “That you wanted to…” He gestured vaguely, cheeks a little red now for assuming she wanted to fool around with him. Joyce really wasn’t most girls.
She gasped and slammed on the brakes. “What?!”
“Sorry! I-I misread things!”
“You thought I was putting out in exchange for driving lessons?”
He grimaced. “Well, not putting out, but… I dunno, it seemed like you were hinting at something, yeah.”
“Is that why you agreed to help me?!” She stared at him, face flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.
“No, Joyce, I–”
“God, you know, all you guys are the same. Only one thing on your mind! Thanks for the driving lesson, Hop, but I think I wanna be done.”
She threw the car into park and fumbled with the seatbelt, but he quickly intervened, resting his hand atop hers and facing to look at her.
“Joyce! Joyce, stop! I’m sorry, okay? That’s… that’s not why I agreed to help.” He sighed, shifting uncomfortably. Maybe it had played a part in it, but again, he was only human. “I like you, alright? A-as a friend. I like spending time with you. That’s why I said yes.”
She was staring at him, scrutinizing him skeptically for so long he was beginning to convince himself she’d never speak to him again. Finally, she drew in a deep breath and relented, shoulders slumping some.
“I’m sorry if I… I led you on.”
“Nah, you didn’t. That’s on me.”
Well, maybe she had a little, but he wasn’t exactly looking for a slapping. Girls were like cars, after all—touchy as all hell and requiring some gentle coaxing.
She started moving them forward again, lapsing into silence for some time.
“I like you, too,” she whispered, throat dipping as she swallowed.
He glanced at her in surprise. “You—you do?”
“Yeah.”
He gulped, the fact that she hadn’t clarified as a friend weighing heavy on his mind.
“Do, uh… do you wanna try backing up?”
“Sure.”
He instructed her into a parking spot, ran through the motions with her, then sat patiently as she shifted into reverse. It took her a few tries, but she eventually got the hang of it, and he beamed proudly at her.
“See? You’re getting it.”
She smiled shyly and nodded.
“You wanna take her out onto the road now?”
“I dunno, Hop…”
“C’mon. There’s no one around for miles. Roads are nice and empty. We won’t have to go over twenty.”
She sighed but finally gave in, heading for the exit towards the county road.
“Don’t forget your blinker,” he reminded her.
Gripping the wheel tightly, she steered them out onto the dirt road and moved along with a crawl, eyes darting around nervously on alert for approaching vehicles.
“Thank you,” she whispered once they were a couple miles down the road.
He offered her a gentle smile. “You’re welcome.”
“I baked you cookies, by the way.”
He lit up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Chocolate chip. They’re in the backseat.”
“Well, why don’t we pull over at The Lookout and try them out?” he suggested, grinning.
“The Lookout? You mean, the most infamous necking spot in town?” She shot him a raised brow.
He smirked and raised his hands. “No funny business, I promise. Just hungry, that’s all. I skipped supper.” As if for emphasis, his stomach growled, and she rolled her eyes.
“Fine. It’s the next left, isn’t it?”
“Yup. And don’t forget–”
“My blinker. Got it.”
El and Will were taking turns on the road. Hopper had managed to convince Joyce that it was safe enough way out here in the country with no one around.
“Can I go faster?” El asked, already speeding up.
Hopper chuckled. “I don’t want you to go more than forty, okay? Keep an eye on your speedometer.”
“Fine,” El huffed.
He watched her speed out of the corner of his eye, clearing his throat every time she pushed her limit.
“I’ll make you a deal, kid. Once you have your permit, we’ll go back to the fairgrounds, and I’ll let you drive her around the speedway where we watch the stock car races.”
“You’ll what?!” Joyce gasped from the backseat.
“I won’t let her go more than sixty!”
“Sixty?!”
“Cool,” El grinned.
“What about you, Will? You wanna try going faster on the track in a couple weeks?” Hopper asked, smiling at the boy in the mirror.
“Maybe,” Will answered, biting his lip and ducking his head from his mother’s scolding look. A slow smile spread over his face, and he gazed out the window of the backseat, nodding to himself. “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”
“We should race!” El exclaimed. “See who can go the fastest!”
“Alright, alright, I dunno about that,” Hopper laughed, shaking his head. “One thing at a time.” He reached over and mussed El’s curly hair.
Joyce shot Hopper a glare in the mirror, and yeah—maybe he’d be sleeping on the couch tonight, but it was worth it to see the smile on their kids’ faces.
He and Joyce were halfway through the second cookie as they sat on the hood of his dad’s car, staring out at the twinkling lights from the city below. Hawkins was a shithole, but it had its moments. Even he had to admit that. The company sure helped.
He glanced over at the car a few spots over and snorted, noting the fogged up windows and the gentle groan of the vehicle as it rocked back and forth, a sight he was pretty damn familiar with.
“Someone’s having a good time,” he muttered under his breath.
Joyce flushed and bit her lip. “Probably would have been you and Chrissy tonight, huh?”
He shrugged, popping the last of his cookie into his mouth. “Maybe.”
“Sorry about that.”
“This is more fun,” he confessed.
She scoffed beside him. “Yeah, right.”
He frowned and turned towards her. “I’m serious. I’m having a good time.”
Her face grew shy, and she handed him the last bite of her cookie. “Me, too.”
He lit up a cigarette, took a long drag, and silently passed it to her, drawing a knee up as he watched the city below, a warm breeze rustling in the trees around them and cooling his skin. He sniffed, watching her smoke out of the corner of his eye, and accepted back the cigarette.
“You wanna do this again tomorrow? Maybe even take her out onto the highway?”
“You sure?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Yeah,” he answered, smoke trickling out of his nose. “I’m sure.”
The car next to them rocked more vigorously, and wistfully, he tried not to imagine Joyce climbing into the backseat of his dad’s Oldsmobile after their driving lesson. He reminded himself, once again, that Joyce wasn’t like most girls.
Will took his turn out on the road, driving about fifteen miles an hour less than El had been, but he seemed a lot more relaxed now, just cautious. Cautious was fine, Hopper mused. Cautious meant no panicked phone calls in the middle of the night from a car in a ditch somewhere. He smiled over at the kid.
“You wanna take us to The Lookout? I dunno about you guys, but I’m getting hungry for your mom’s sandwiches.”
Will nodded and looked around. “Which way?”
“Take the first left up here.”
“You still didn’t tell us why Mom screamed,” El goaded from the backseat.
“I think we can save that for another time,” Joyce groaned as Will crept the Cavalier up the hill.
Hopper smirked and drummed his fingers on the side of the car. “Actually, I think now’s a perfect time.”
Joyce sealed her tupperware of cookies, insisted he take the rest home, and they both climbed back into the front seat of the Oldsmobile. It took her two tries to back out of the parking spot, but she managed with minimal coaxing, and had them back onto the main road before long.
The hill coming down from The Lookout was steep, and judging by Joyce’s face, intimidating for a first time driver. She white-knuckled the wheel and stared down the road in front of her with a gulp.
“It’s okay,” Jim encouraged. “Just take it slow. Gently keep your foot on the brake so you don’t pick up too much speed.”
“Okay,” she agreed, but the car suddenly lurched forward and rapidly began to accelerate.
“I said brake, Joyce, not gas!”
“Shit!” she gasped, face paling with panic. The car rolled quickly down the hill, headlights from an approaching vehicle blinding as they came into view.
“Jesus, Joyce, brake!”
She did not brake. She shrieked and, to his horror, her hands flew off the wheel, the car veering into the opposite lane and straight towards the approaching headlights. Gasping, Jim threw off his buckle and grabbed onto the wheel, jerking it away from the oncoming traffic. He leaned over her and yanked on the emergency brake, the gears of the car protesting as the Oldsmobile slowed beneath them. He managed to maneuver them onto the shoulder of the road, heart pounding in his ears. They both sat there, panting and staring ahead at the dark treeline, illuminated by only the car’s yellow headlights.
“Sorry,” she squeaked. “I panicked.”
He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to relax his breathing.
“How about I drive us home?”
“Yeah,” she agreed breathlessly. “Good idea.”
Joyce laid out a blanket on the ground, and the four of them settled down to enjoy the lunch she packed with a nice view of the city.
“Please eat your sandwich, too, not just chips,” she gently reminded Will.
The boy mumbled a reply and obediently dug into his sandwich with nacho-cheese stained fingers.
“Told you.”
El shot her brother a triumphant smirk, which earned her an eye roll.
Hopper sprawled out and tried not to scarf his sandwich down too quickly, always feeling like his food was going to float away from him after Russia. He had to stop and remind himself too often that there was plenty to eat and he had more than enough time to enjoy it all. He wasn’t sure if Joyce knew or not, but she seemed to reward his slow bites with a hand in his hair, gently caressing his scalp, and that was almost more heavenly than her bologna sandwich.
A car pulled in across the lot, and a young couple got out of the front and quickly circled around to the back, slamming the doors shut behind them. Hopper snorted and watched, shoving the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. He missed busting kids with his sirens sometimes.
El scrunched her brow and stared after them.
“What are they doing?”
Jesus.
“Uh…”
Panicked, he glanced at Joyce for a little backup, but she was obliviously picking at her grapes.
“Probably kissing,” Will groaned, wrinkling his nose. “I think this is where all the older kids come to make out.”
El sat up straighter and stared at the car with widening eyes. “Kissing. In the backseat?”
Hopper sighed and tried to think of some other scenario involving two teenagers climbing into the back of a car that he could use to lie his way out of this, but nothing was coming to mind. Helplessly, he glanced at Joyce again for assistance, but she was just smirking, watching him with raised brows as she chewed her grapes.
“Yeah, but, kid, that’s… that’s not allowed, alright? When you start driving on your own. You don’t use the car for that kinda stuff, okay?” he said sternly, clearing his throat.
El frowned at him. “Three inches?”
“Yeah, exactly. You can’t exactly enforce a three inch rule with cars, which is why it’s against the rules.”
Joyce snorted beside him, and damn her, he knew exactly what she was thinking. Big ol’ hypocrite.
El peered between them curiously.
“Did you two—kiss? In the car when you came here?”
Hopper felt his face go red and sputtered, reaching for his can of coke to take a quick swig in attempts to give himself a little more time to answer and to clear his suddenly parched throat.
“No, w-we didn’t,” he stammered, and it wasn’t a total lie. All of the kissing they’d done during Joyce’s first driving lesson had been after the fact.
“Not here, at least,” Joyce added playfully around a bite of her sandwich.
Hopper gaped at her. She was really no help. El’s eyes went wide, and Will’s nose wrinkled.
“Ew,” the boy grumbled, shaking his head.
“Where—did you kiss?” El questioned.
Hopper silently cursed his daughter and her natural knack for playing twenty damn questions, and his smirking wife next to him for encouraging it. Squirming uncomfortably, he snatched the bag of grapes from Joyce and cleared his throat.
“Uh… well, we kissed a little when I brought your mom home,” he answered, cheeks burning.
El giggled and covered her mouth. Will rolled his eyes. Joyce leveled a warm, mischievous look at him that told him she was remembering it all very vividly.
That was not a story he’d be telling the kids.
Jesus.
“Thanks again,” Joyce whispered as they turned into her neighborhood. She smiled sheepishly, hands fidgeting in her lap. “I, uh… I understand if you don’t want to give me anymore lessons.”
He snorted. “What, you think I don’t like nearly crashing into oncoming traffic?”
“I’m sorry, Hop! I-I panicked!”
“Yeah, I noticed.” He smirked and glanced over at her, finding her absent of any amusement. Sighing, he reached over and rested a hand on her knee, giving it a squeeze. “It’s okay, alright? It’s your first time. I shouldn’t have had you out on the road while it was dark.”
She bit her lip and smiled weakly at him. “I’ll see if Lonnie can help me.”
“Byers?” He frowned, ignoring the jealousy that raged inside of him. “You talk to that son of a bitch?”
“A little.” She shrugged defensively. “He’s been kinda sweet on me.”
He felt his nostrils flare. “Be careful of him, Joyce. He’s a total asshole. Cycles through a new broad each week.”
“Oh, and you don’t?” She scoffed and crossed her arms. “Jesus, Hop.”
“I’m just saying!” He grumbled, sliding his hand a little higher on her leg, grip tightening possessively. “I don’t think he has good intentions, okay?” He hesitated, swallowing hard. “I-I care about you, Joyce. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
To his surprise, her hand settled atop his.
“Well, I appreciate the concern, but I can handle myself.”
“I know you can. Just… be careful.”
He parked down the block from her house since he knew how strict her mom was with boys. They sat in silence for a few moments, hands still intertwined as Chantilly Lace came on the radio.
“Besides,” he finally whispered, “It’s, you know, not a good idea to switch teachers.”
She narrowed her brows and shook her head. “Huh?”
“Imagine you’ve been learning Algebra from Miss Hannigan all year, and then at the last minute, Mr. Simmons subs and has a completely different teaching style right before a big test. It might be confusing.”
He blushed, since even he knew that analogy was a hell of a stretch.
“Is that your way of saying you’re willing to put up with me panicking and nearly getting us killed?”
He chuckled and upturned his hand beneath hers, giving it a squeeze. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
She beamed at him, eyes lighting up and face beautifully illuminated in a warm glow from the street lamp outside.
“Same time tomorrow?”
“Sure. Same time tomorrow.”
“You sure Chrissy won’t mind?”
“Ah, Chrissy? We’re not even going steady or anything. She’s just… a distraction.”
“A distraction?” Joyce cocked her head. “From what?”
Jim drew in a breath and stared at her in the low light, hesitating for a long moment. With most girls, he’d beat around the bush, offer just enough to keep them interested without showing his cards too soon. But Joyce wasn’t most girls.
“From you.”
Her mouth fell open, eyes growing wide. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, adrenaline surging inside of him. Maybe he’d said too much. Maybe he should have kept his damn mouth shut. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Joyce off, send her running away from his sorry ass. But she didn’t look scared at all. Her eyes fell to his lips and she gradually closed the distance between them, bringing her mouth tentatively to his. He gasped, clutching a hand to the back of her head and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her gently in return. He could still taste faint hints of chocolate on her.
“Joyce,” he breathed. He kicked the seat back and drew her into his lap, caressing her scalp and kneading her back as he slowly urged her lips apart, tasting her, teaching her. He’d have kept kissing her all damn night, but her nine o’ clock curfew sent them apart a few minutes later, and with flushed skin and kiss-bruised lips, she reluctantly said her goodbyes and disappeared down the block through her front door.
He touched his lips and stared after her into the darkness, frozen in place as the street lamp flickered above.
One thing was for sure.
She really had made it worth his while.
Hopper wanted to test the car out on the main road and spent another hour driving his family around as the sun set, listening carefully for any signs that the engine was failing. It made it to sixty-five without any problems and handled the freeway like a dream. Maybe he wasn’t such a shit mechanic after all.
He glanced in the rear view mirror and smiled, finding El asleep with her head on Will’s shoulder as the boy gazed contently out the window. Joyce’s fingers tangled through his between them on the front seat, and he lifted her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.
“I love you,” he whispered into her skin.
She shivered pleasantly and shot him a warm smile, eyes wrinkling around the edges.
“I love you, too. Take us home, Hop?”
“Yeah. Let’s go home.”
Jim Croce came on the radio just as he was taking the turn back to Southeast Hawkins, and Hopper turned it up a little, smiling to himself and humming along. Will met eyes with him in the rearview mirror, brow wrinkling in bemusement.
“Hey, kid? Now this is music.”