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After the final battle in Hawkins Jane had spent 2 weeks on a long journey, finding somewhere new. Somewhere where there was no Upside Down, no Hawkins lab, somewhere where she could be Jane, rather than Eleven. She went from bus to train to boat several times. Eventually settling on a beautiful town in Iceland. It was absolutely stunning, waterfalls, a small village she had moved into where all the people were one large friend group. It was gorgeous, and everything she wanted. It was perfect.
Almost.
She had felt so guilty. For leaving everyone behind. Some days she thought “What’s the point of meeting for the village dinner if the guilt is already eating me alive.” She had missed them, yes, but she knew she couldn’t stay, and still she felt terrible. So the town started a tradition, every night at the group dinners they would say one thing they are grateful for. Jane always picked someone from Hawkins.
Joyce Hopper and Jim Hopper, they showed her what true loving parents were. And taught her some of the most important lessons of her life. Lessons she still used to this day.
Jonathan Byers, the best older brother she ever could have asked for. He taught her that you shouldn’t change based on other people’s opinions, and to be your own person.
Lucas Sinclair, while she may not have known him all that well, he showed her friendship, and that true friends stick together no matter what.
Mike Wheeler, he taught her that you should give people a chance, and go for what you want, no matter the cost.
Max Mayfield, she showed her that you can find light even in the darkest of times, as long as you have someone or something that brings you a spark. And most importantly, to be her own person, she makes her own rules.
Will Byers, the one who truly understood her, who showed her there’s a good personality behind what other people say about her, and as long as she knows that. Then that’s all that matters. And who showed her that you can love who you want, no matter who they are.
And Dustin Henderson, who showed her what love truly is, and could be. That the right person is waiting, wishing for someone just like you. And that two souls don’t meet by accident.
Jane’s first night in Iceland wasn’t easy. Not at all. Thankfully, the townspeople were very welcoming. A kind boy, a similar age to Jane, allowed her to stay in his home. He has short brown hair, he was quite tall, and had hazel-brown eyes.
“Hello, are you new to the village? I don’t believe I’ve seen you around.” the kind boy asked.
“Yes, I am, I got here just a few hours ago” Jane replied.
“Oh.” The boy said, slightly surprised. “So I’m assuming you have nowhere to stay yet?” he asked her.
“No, do you know if there are any houses that are open?” Jane asked the boy.
“Um, I think there’s a new one under construction, but the other houses are all pretty full, lots of hikers come by and need somewhere to stay? Are you here on a hike?” The boy asked, talking very fast. Almost nervously.
“No, I actually wanted to live here, I’ve heard about this village on my journey here. And everyone seems so nice.” Jane told him.
“That’s great! Yeah, everyone here is pretty nice, we’re all one big community.” The boy stated. “You could always stay with me. My previous roommate moved houses after starting his family, so I’m kinda lonely now.” The kind boy continued.
“If you don’t mind! That would be great.” Jane replied.
“Great, I’ll see you tonight,” he said cheerfully. “Also, the community dinner is tonight at 6:30. It’s not required, but it’s a great way to make some friends and get to know the rest of our- your neighbors.” He said, correcting himself.
“That sounds fun! I’ll see you there then.. Uhm? What was your name?” Jane asked.
Her head was racing with questions about this boy. Where was he from? What was his name? Why had he corrected his sentence? Did he want a family? Had he already had one? So. Many. Questions. Questions she couldn’t ask him, because she had barely known him.
“Zayne,” He said, snapping her back into reality rather than all the questions and thoughts swirling around in her brain like leaves on a chilly spring day. “And you’re name is?” He continued.
“Jane.” She replied. There was an awkward pause of silence before she continued with “Well, Zayne, I’ll see you later!” She said, breaking the silence.
“Yeah! See you tonight, I’ll be in my house most of the day, so feel free to come and set your stuff up anytime!” He said, sounding very joyous, which made Jane instinctively share a slight smile with him.
“Yeah, that sounds great. See you then.” She replied walking away before making this situation feel any more awkward than it already did. Her cheeks flushed a light red with a feeling she couldn’t tell was embarrassment, or joy. Or maybe, guilt.
Guilt that she made a new friend so quickly and felt like she was betraying the others?
Guilt that she had met a new boy, she doubted Dustin could move on that quickly.
Guilt that she had already been having new interactions, making a new found family.
No.
It wasn’t like that, whatever that was. She wasn’t even sure herself. But she knew that it was just a short interaction with a kind boy. A kind boy she was going to live with, and get to know, and be friends with. Friends.
That was final.
She gathers herself, pushing the stress and guilt down and praying. She’s not sure what she’s praying for but she knows it’s to get over that interaction.
Get over it.
She moves on with her day, hoping to forget all about it, but it stays lingering in the back of her mind. She’s not sure whether to be brave and face it, or brush it off as a friendly interaction. But she’s sure that it meant more to her than it should have. So for now, she’s trudging through this day, and hoping the time will change to 6:30, maybe 6:20, or 6:10, being early wouldn’t hurt anything, if anything, she could help. Help set up, find new friends. Ones that didn’t have weird interactions with her.
Ones that she wasn’t falling in love with.
Finally, 6:00 came. It was still too early to show up, but she could still show up in about 20 minutes. That wasn’t too hard. She’s still walking around the village, looking.
Looking for something but she’s not sure what. A phone? To call her friends, to ‘get her out of jail free’. To take her back to Hawkins, where her friends were, where her family was, where Dustin was, she always wanted to be around Dustin. She loved him.
Loves him.
Current tense.
But that couldn’t happen, everybody thought she was dead. That the final battle with the Upside Down and everything else cursed in that town had taken her. Plus, who would answer an unknown caller from Iceland.
And even if they did answer, whoever it was, she couldn’t bring herself to face them. If it was her parents they would probably yell at her for leaving them, for living and running instead of going back home.
If it was her friends they might never speak to her again, she wouldn’t want that.
If it was Dustin, he might never love her again, and she didn’t want that, she loved him.
Loves him.
Still current tense.
It’s finally 6:20, the overthinking lasted longer than anticipated. She started rushing to the large wooden dinner table towards the center of the small town. It’s not like she was going to be late, but she wanted to interact with people, to tell herself that it was just an interaction, and not to overthink that conversation with Zayne earlier.
Also, as a new neighbor it’s probably a good idea to help out in the community, make a good first impression.
She finally makes it to the dining area.
Shit.
Originally, coming to the dining area early was to get her mind off of everything, to take a breather before having to talk to Zayne again. She could lie to herself and say it was “just to help out the community” all she wanted. But the truth was that she was finding distractions, anything to take her mind off of it.
But, there he was, Zayne, standing on the far left side of the huge wooden table, laying down silverware carefully at every seat.
Shit.
She knew he was a kind person. But kind enough to volunteer everywhere, including the one place she didn’t want him to be? Well, she wanted to be around him, but it felt wrong, but also, it felt so, so right.
She couldn’t
Couldn’t be falling in love with him, couldn’t be thinking of their interaction from hours ago as anything more than simple and friendly, couldn’t be living with him. But she’s going to anyway, she makes her own rules.
So for now, she helps set the table and prays that dinner doesn’t take long, the sooner it’s over, the sooner she can go to sleep, even if it’s in Zayne’s house.
God, why did she agree to share a house with him?
Or maybe, that’s not the worst thing.