Chapter Text
Jane loved her life. For the first time, she could truly say that.
Her mornings were spent in Hopper’s rugged yet familiar cabin, homeschooling herself through borrowed textbooks, wisdom from Hop & Joyce, and her own natural born curiosity for the world. Jane often times preferred to wander into the forest for lessons. Algebra was much more tolerable with sunlight beaming down at you through tall trees.
Today, Jane took her time strolling through the slightly damp woods, conscious of the quiet snaps & squishes under her boots. Her schoolwork long finished, she let her feet subconsciously lead the way. The air surprisingly humid for an October day.
Jane sighed contently.
.✦ ݁˖
“You were gone awhile, kiddo. Did you finish-“
“Finished hours ago!” The girl, now nineteen cheered, kicking her purple boots off and pushing the door closed.
Jane didn’t have a normal childhood. She knew that, obviously. And she knew she shouldn’t feel ashamed of finishing her twelfth grade classes later than the rest of the party. But that shame found its way of creeping in. While they studied for their exams then celebrated by going to grad parties, Jane was dealing with the military. With the Hawkins Police Department. Tying up any loose thread that connected her to her past life. To Eleven.
“Proud of you. I always am.” Hop spoke, his words trailing off as he lifted his coffee mug to his lips. She smiled.
As Jane stripped her raincoat and began heading to the couch, the pale yellow phone on the wall rang. Her eyes shot to Hopper, asking if she should answer without words. He nodded, casually.
Times sure had changed. Jane answering the phone to an unknown caller would’ve given Hop a heart attack barely a year ago. But she was safe now.
“Byers-Hopper residence, Jane speaking.”
“Holy shit, I missed your voice!” The familiar voice on the other end of the phone soothed Jane. A slightly raspy voice with an underlying lisp.
“Dustin?”
“Yeah- Hey, are you finished with your schooling for the day? It’s Mike’s first shift at Scoops other than his training, we could go fuck with him!” The cheeky grin on Dustin’s face, noticeable even while across town, spread to Jane’s.
“I don’t wanna..” She glanced back to Hopper,
“-Fuck with him. I’ll wish him luck and ask him for free ice cream. And if he doesn’t give it to me, I know Max will. She always does.”
“No fair! She even makes me tip. No one tips at Scoops Ahoy!” Jane suppressed a giggle, her fingers absentmindedly twirling the phone cord.
“So.. you wanna?” He chimed in after a comfortable moment of silence. She turned her head back again. Hopper’s eyes were already on her.
“Go have fun.” He mouthed.
“What time can you pick me up?”
.✦ ݁˖
After the tragedy at the Starcourt Mall in 1985, the lot remained empty. There would be talk of condos on the news, lots of talks about the backlash surrounding said condos, but it stayed in disarray until late 1988 when a group of wealthy young people turned it around.
The commercial stores from before were replaced with small local businesses, simply wanting to share their stories and creations.
Jane loved Starcourt even more now.
“Wow, your room is so cool! It’s so you now.” Dustin admired everything in her room from the countless paintings in Will’s signature style sprawled along the dusty lilac wall to her ever growing record collection surrounded by house plants that stretched, arms open. Jane’s eyes wandered to her space. Her own space. God, she loved having her own space.
Only a few people had seen her room. Her safe space. Max found her way to Jane’s most nights, often times falling asleep while Jane read classic novels under her breath. Lucas once joked that Jane was her second boyfriend. Even Mike had been over a few times since she’d revamped it. Hopper still insisted on keeping the door open three inches, despite the two being strictly platonic since 1986 and now being two years into adulthood. They laughed for hours.
“Thank you. I spent a long time on it.” She pursed her lips in a shy smile.
“Well I can definitely tell.” Dustin grinned back, fluffy curls covering his right eye. His curls had always been quite fascinating to Jane, but after Eddie’s mentoring and years of growing it out and learning how to style it, Jane wanted nothing but to run her hands through it.
She shook the thought out of her head.
“Should we leave? I don’t want to miss the good stores.”
“My cars out front.”
.✦ ݁˖
The ride to the mall was brief. It didn’t take long to get almost anywhere in Hawkins. Dustin’s Toyota pickup was nothing special, but he had great tapes to make up for it. The Romantics, Stevie Nicks & New Order struggled to break through the strength of the two’s singing, or rather shouting.
The new minimalistic look of the mall turned away half of Hawkins, but in Jane’s eyes that just meant more time to bug Max while she’s on the clock.
In the parking lot, Dustin quickly hopped down from the drivers seat and scurried around the forest green truck to open Jane’s door for her. He always did. The two made their way into the mall, Dustin immediately making a b-line to the comic store. Jane watched as the boy chatted with every worker he could, asking their opinions on new issues and being very vocal with his own. After half an hour, they left with Jane softly tugging on his over-shirt.
Scoop’s was the one shop in Starcourt that hadn’t changed much. The vibrant neon sign stood there welcoming everyone from kids to the elderly of Hawkins. Max hated serving the boring old people, as she called them. Jane spotted her best friend’s beachy auburn hair tied back in a low pony almost immediately. She watched as she finished scooping a large glob of strawberry ice cream for a young boy. The family paid and left, and Jane & Dustin moved in.
“Max!” Her head whipped around.
“Jane! Oh, hey Henderson.” She replied, scooting around the counter to pull Jane into a hug. Max’s sturdy hands held her close, patting her long brown hair over her shoulders.
“Where’s Mike?” Jane mumbled into Max’s uniform.
“10 bucks he’s already fired.” Dustin chimed in, peaking his head over to admire the array of flavours.
Just as if on cue, Mike stumbled out of the backroom, brown box’s piled in his scrawny arms. His face was flushed and swarmed with exhaustion. His shoulder length curls hanging untamed.
“Good first day?” Jane questioned as a few of the boxes at the top tumbled to the ground. She chuckled.
“It would be better if Max was willing to get her hands dirty. There’s two people on the clock for a reason.” He grumbled.
“Hey! Seniority rules.” She smirked, finally releasing Jane from her grasp. Her eyes wandered the parlour.
“Lucas coming?”
“Or Will?” Mike added, leaning his bony hip against the counter.
“Just us.”
“Oh.” Mike’s face was hard to read.
“Ice cream?” Jane broke the silence.
Mike was cautious serving up their cones. It’s not like he would get in trouble for giving it away for free, Max was technically his boss. Jane chose one scoop of cherry garcia with extra whipped cream and sprinkles. Her eyes widened as Mike continued scooping and pouring until she was satisfied. Dustin chose chocolate, Max gave him a hard time for a ‘basic choice.’
“Watch the till for me?” She called, already strolling to the closest booth where Dustin and Jane sat enjoying the first bites of their treats. Mike squinted his eyes.
“What else are you two doing today?” She prodded, reaching for a lick of Jane’s ice cream. Dustin’s eyes searched Jane’s.
“The only thing on my mind was annoying Wheeler. Jane?”
“We could all go see something! What time do you get off, Max?”
“Late. Someone has to keep an eye on that one.” She gestured her head toward Mike, now organizing cones in rainbow order.
“I’m proud of you, Max. You are totally manager material.”
“Assistant Manger. But thank you.”
“Is Wheeler doing okay?” Dustin asked, sneaking another look at Mike, absolutely bored out of his mind while tidying and organizing.
“He’ll be fine when he learns to control his mouth. Right now it’s all ‘This is boring’, ‘Where’s Will?’, ‘What do you think he’s doing right now?’ It’s like he can’t function without that kid! Like, I would rather be at Lucas’ but I’m not complaining constantly.” The redhead rolled her eyes.
Dustin and Jane exchanged a brief glance.
“But they’re not like you and Lucas. Dating, I mean.” She spoke.
“Close enough!” Max chuckled, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.
“Wouldn’t Will and Mike dating be weird..? That would be like.. I don’t know. That would be like Jane and I dating.”
Jane watched as Dustin’s smile faded, regret seeping in with every spoken word. His head turned away from her as he took a quick bite. Max’s icy eyes widened and she suppressed a cough.
“I don’t know if it would exactly like that.” Max spoke. Jane cocked her head at Dustin. He snickered, his laugh contrasting his body tensed from head to toe.
“Friends to Lovers? It’s very common. Persuasion by Jane Austen, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer… Should I continue?”
“That’s okay..” Dustin shifted.
“Why aren’t they?”
“Why aren’t they what?” Max jumped in.
“Why aren’t they dating?” Jane’s face was flat. A straightforward enough question, she thought.
“It’s, um.. It’s not all that simple like it is in the books. Sometimes friends are just friends. But go ahead and ask Wheeler yourself, I’d love to see the look on his face. Hey, while we’re on the topic, why aren’t you and Henderson dating?” The last words left her mouth so casually, Dustin flinched. Jane waited to read his reaction.
“What on earth are you talking about, Max? Because that would be crazy!” His voice raised to the squeaky one that lingered, despite his growing age.
That feeling that lay deep in her chest made its return.
“Crazy?” Her deep brown eyes softened.
“Not crazy! That’s not what I meant at all. Never mind, sorry.“ Dustin’s words came out quietly. He finished his ice cream, Jane tried her best to catch up. From that moment on, he seemed a tad withdrawn. Dustin switched between doodling on post-it-notes and focusing in on whatever work story Max chatted about. Seconds later, a tall shadow appeared out of the corner of Jane’s eye.
“Max, this is so not fair! So not fair! This is fucking boring. Nancy said Will and Jonathan might come by on their way to Holly’s recital but it’s already like 4:45 so I don’t know how that’s possible now, and-“
“Wheeler, slow the hell down. You’ll see him soon, dude.” Max nearly shouted, fed up with Mike’s antics after just a few days of working together in close proximity. He mumbled a curse and shoved into the booth. Jane gave him a sympathetic smile.
“Sorry.”
“We can leave now.. if you want.” Dustin whispered.
The energy of the day completely shifted. Jane’s curiosity was one of her favourite traits, now it felt like a defect.
.✦
The ride home felt like it lasted forever. Dustin softly hummed along to his mix, Jane sat silently. She focused her eyes in on her chipped blue nail polish. Her pale hands rested on her blue jeans. Dustin stared straight ahead at the road, hands tight on the wheel. The small town blurred into a forest of green and brown.
“Hey Jane? I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to make things weird, I was trying to do the complete opposite actually…” Dustin shifted his truck into park and faced Jane.
“Oh, it’s okay. Why was it weird?” She bit the inside of her cheek.
“I just mean, uhm, with what Max was saying. You know, we’re friends. I wouldn’t ever want to make you uncomfortable or anything.”
“I wasn’t. I don’t think you could ever make me uncomfortable, Dustin. You’re a great friend.”
The air hung heavy. The cabin normally so warm and inviting felt miles away. Jane reached for her bag.
“Thank you for today. It was really fun. Maybe we could do something tomorrow? Unless you have other plans-”
“Nope! Not at all. Wait, don’t you have schoolwork to do tomorrow?” Jane felt a warm blush rise to her cheeks. But Dustin didn’t sound like he was judging her.
“I do.. nature studies. I was thinking it might be more fun with a nerd.” Her nose crinkled above her soft smile.
“You’re saying that like you’re not also a major nerd.” He laughed.
“Hey!” Jane leaned in and gave Dustin a playful shove. His eyes seemed to sparkle as they connected. Her gaze on him remained steady.
“Thanks for the ride. I’ll call you tomorrow, friend.”
The boy sat in his beat-down truck, watching every step Jane took to the wooden stairs. When he knew she was safe, he started the engine. The brunette turned her head around, she raised a hand to her lips and blew a polite kiss. Jane watched Dustin take a shallow breath before pulling away with a mousy smile.
The door creaked open beneath her grasp and the warm honey glow of vintage lamps greeted her. The cabin was serene, completely silent apart from the hum of a refrigerator. Jane let her body lean against the chilled hard wood, grounding her.
Maybe the word ‘friend’ meant something different to him. Maybe the word had changed meaning for her along the way. Jane didn’t really care right now. Her heart felt heavy, her body was light.
In her room, Jane gravitated towards her record collection, running her hand across the spines. She closed her eyes and let her intuition choose her ambiance for the evening.
The Kick Inside by Kate Bush.
As the first track spun, Jane sunk into her twin sized bed. The party all hung out separately from time to time, Jane and Dustin certainly did. Today felt different. Jane’s eyes cruised across her room, to her polaroids of the party, then to her bag. A baby pink post-it-note peeked out of a small pocket. She stumbled to her feet to investigate. The note was folded. Jane snatched it and scurried back to her mattress. Unfolding it, her eyes crinkled as her smile grew.
You looked really pretty today. I wanted to say it earlier but Mike kinda crashed our hang haha. Have a great night Jane :)
- Dustin