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   MUSIC BLASTING FROM THE radio next to her drowns out the happiness of the newest couple of Hawkins—Nancy and Jonathan. Brooke and Paisley found themselves waiting for a ride from Steve Harrington as they watch their best friends give each cheek pecks. There is never an unnecessary amount of PDA from the two but the 'newly' heartbroken for the first time Brooke Martel and the I'm a lesbian in Indiana in the 80's and I'm fucking terrified Paisley Slora are not digging it and haven't been digging it.

Brooke regrets even thinking dating someone was a good idea. She went 17 years without proper experience—only short make out sessions and pity moans to guys at parties and she thought she could handle one. Who the hell could've gotten Brooke though? She bites the hand that feeds her if it pisses her off enough.

Casey. Casey Windward. February 1985 is when it all started and then June 1985 is when it all ended like a dumpster fire that had no chance of being put out. Both parties not realizing they didn't even want the other like that—it was just the convenience, at least Casey realized that part.

Being with Casey was intoxicating. Not the kind where the love and obsession was mutual. One of them clearly loved the other more and it wasn't Casey.

So, when the words I love you spilled from Brooke's mouth mid makeup session, she had no idea why she was so surprised that he had gotten up and ran out of the cabin, muttering something about how he has to go do something.

The next day was an argument that shook the cabin. One that Brooke kept getting louder and louder to the point where El thought steam would come out of her ears like one of her Saturday morning cartoons.

"I don't love you!" Casey yelled, cutting off Brooke's breathing. Fingers go from being clenched to cold.

Casey left the cabin once again with the slam of the door. It almost felt like a fucking shitty metaphor—Casey abruptly closing the door on Brooke.

Her heart sped up but she didn't go to Jonathan or Paisley or Nancy, Brooke's knuckles collided with the wood surrounding Steve's window. With a jump from the side of his Walkman flying off his head, Steve opens the window for a tearful Brooke.

Brooke had no idea why she came there that night—Steve figured it out pretty quickly. He's the only person that understood her at that moment.

The honking of Steve's obnoxious car wakes Brooke up from her replay of her breakup.

"Fucking finally!" Brooke shouts too loud, making Nancy and Jonathan pout at her. She gives a nervous smile, "I mean, I love young love. I'm only surrounded by it 24/7. You Wheeler's and taking my best friends—it's rude," Brooke copies their pout, referring to El and Mike who are most likely sucking face and getting yelled at by Hopper.

Steve leans on the horn again. "These asshats, I leave my shift just to pick them up. Paisley should be working in the first place—" His words being spoken out loud are cut off by Brooke swinging the passenger door open. "He's arrived," Brooke dramatically yells.

Paisley shakes her head, "Get in. He's on his break."

Steve smacks the steering wheel, "Thank you. Thank you for the reminder that I've spent it picking you two up." They both settle into the car. Brooke smiles as she buckles, "You love it."

Brooke had no longer hated the thought of wanting to save Steve's life. She had accepted him and Paisley's odd friendship that had sparked up—Brooke accepted Steve into her life.

Steve speeds to the Starcourt Mall. The newest addition of capitalism in Hawkins. The three were all victims to it. Whether it was Brooke being late to her shift at the burger place or Paisley having to get a ride from Steve to their shared job at Scoops Ahoy! thanks to her one car household.

THE MALL AS PER usual is crowded. There's not much else to do in Hawkins except sit in a Walmart parking lot and smoke so of course it's buzzing. Brooke, personally, would much rather take the first option—especially if it's Eddie Munson's weed.

The two girls sit in the back of Scoops Ahoy! enjoying the free sundaes Robin and Steve had dished out for them. Brooke mixes the vanilla and chocolate ice cream around, "Could've added more vanilla, Harrington," She says with a smug smile. Anything to get on his nerves.

Steve kicks off the wall, "Next time, you pay for it, huh? Paisley has no complaints." Paisley rests her head on her hand with a smile, "That's because Robin is better than you."

As if on cue, Robin's voice yells, "Hey, dingus, your children are here." Steve sighs, walking away from the metal table and opening the glass windows, "Again? Seriously?"

   Brooke peaks to the side of him seeing the group of kids except El walking towards the backroom.

"Late for the movie?" Brooke asks as her brother and friends walk by. "Blame Mike," Danny says. Will and him chuckle a bit together as Mike sucks his teeth. Steve rolls his eyes and makes a hurry up motion with his hand as he opens the door for them.

"Behave!" Brooke yells even though they're still right there. Lucas looks back and shoots finger guns at the two girls, "Can't promise anything—"

"Jesus, Lucas. Let's go!" Max tugs her awkward boyfriend away, trying to hide a smile. Once the kids are further down the hall, Steve yells his usual thing at them, "I swear, if anybody hears about this—"

"We're dead!" They all say in unison.

Steve sighs like a tired mother and gets back to work, side eyeing the girls. Brooke pushes the ice cream out of arm's length, "If you're gonna drag me here on my night off, can we at least go sneaker shopping?"

Paisley licks the plastic spoon clean of strawberry ice cream, "That's fine. I wanted a new denim—" The sudden darkness that surrounds them makes Paisley close her mouth. The buzzing of electricity stops and there's the sound of chaos and confusion as they get up from their seats and enter the front of the store.

"Oh, it's not just us," Brooke says, leaning against the striped walls of the building. Steve walks over to the light switch in front of her, switching it on and off repeatedly. Robin deadpans, "That isn't gonna work, dingus."

"Oh, really?" Steve now flicks the switch faster. Paisley swats his hand away, "You're gonna cause an electrical fire." Steve doesn't say a word, he just puts his hand back up and flicks the switch a couple times before the power goes back on. The nautical tune of the ice cream shop starts up again.

   Steve presses his lips together, "Let there be light." Robin rolls her eyes at him with a small smile. She directs her attention to Paisley, "Run out of ice cream?"

Paisley shakes her head no, "We're all good back there." Brooke can feel the tension in the air. Too much. It's all too much romance, whether Robin or Paisley realize it or not.

Brooke walks up to both Steve and Robin, "I have to go find some new shoes so we are dipping."

Steve plants a hand on his hip, "Be back here by the end of my shift or you're walking home!" Brooke skips out of the shop, throwing Steve a middle finger and Robin a friendly wave. Paisley softly smiles at the girl then follows after Brooke.

BROOKE SPITS INTO THE sink after she deems her teeth are clean. A morning shift—Brooke's worst nightmare.

She groggily steps out of the bathroom and looks towards El and Hopper, "Hi," Brooke says. Hopper laughs a bit at the disheveled state Brooke is in, "I made omelettes. Get your stuff together so I can take you to work."

Brooke tiredly waves him off. She ruffles El's hair and takes the plate where the omelette sits. Brooke doesn't even bother with a fork, she picks up the omelette like a sandwich and bites into it.

"Isn't Dustin coming home today?" Her words muffled. El nods her head excitedly, "We're giving him a surprise."

"What kind of surprise?" Brooke asks, walking over to the fridge for apple juice. "A big one. Mike says Dustin will love it!" El smiles brightly. Hopper pushes out his chair, "Brooke—"

"I'm going, old man! Hold on!" Brooke teases him. Hopper sends a fake glare into her at the name, grabbing his keys.

IF A WASHCLOTH COULD break a granite counter, the one in Brooke's hand would've shattered it. Brooke likes working—when she isn't put with Stella. The brunette isn't even the problem, even though Brooke is pretty sure Stella wants to shove her head into the fryer, it's the fact that Casey sits at the counter, spinning on the chair as Stella feeds him free fries.

Brooke is so tempted to just take her break—more like just walk out and maybe come back 30 minutes later. She's about to do just that when Nancy walks in, running to the counter to grab the bag of burgers.

Brooke quits her slumping, "Hi, Nance. That's your usual—for the misogynistic men. Burgers. How American?"

Nancy's small heels click against the tile, her hair bouncing as she hands Brooke the company's money.

"All we need is a firework to blow up the place and Uncle Sam would be envious of us!" Nancy says and forces herself to chuckle. A firework blowing up the place would be ideal if anything.

Brooke raises her eyebrows and hands Nancy back her change, "I can have it arranged, y'know?" Nancy smiles but cannot tell if Brooke is joking or not. She grabs the brown paper bag off the counter, "I'll let you know, Brooke." That time the two actually laugh. Nancy nods at Casey and Stella who nod back. Her heels fade away the further she gets from the counter.

Casey smiles at Brooke. "Nope, I'm going on break," Brooke whispers at the action. She turns the corner of the counter and marches right to Scoops Ahoy!

Brooke wants to yell but she can't do that when there's plenty of customers in the store. So instead she huffs loudly, catching the attention of others in the booths on either side of her.

Brooke catches a glimpse of Paisley and Robin laughing in the backroom but as she gets closer, she hears Steve horribly flirting with two girls. It's so bad it annoys her.

The girls chuckle at something Steve had said as he rings them up. "Yeah, you know, I considered it, Purdue," Brooke wants to stop the shit show in front of her so badly but Steve just keeps going, "but then I was like, you know what? I really think I need some real life experience, you know, before I hit college, see what it feels like. Kinda like, uh, I don't know, see what it's like to earn a working man's wage, you know?" The register starts beeping loudly, malfunctioning under Steve's fingertips.

Brooke crosses her arms, walking up to the counter, she turns to the very, very pretty girl with the Purdue shirt on, "I like your hair." Her words aren't meant to be anything but a compliment to show Steve how easy it is but she feels like she's competing with someone or something so the words come out more bitter than she expected.

Steve narrows his eyes at Brooke, not even realizing he threw the change at the girl until the coins clatter, "Oh—I'm sorry. I don't know. Maybe next weekend or—"

"Yeah, I'm busy," The girl clearly lies. Brooke scoffs in amusement but the girl's face drops. She looks between Steve and Brooke and then back at Steve, "It's also not cool to flirt with other girls in front of your girlfriend. Okay, thanks." The girl and her friend walk away, leaving Steve and Brooke stunned.

    They both turn to each other, red faces and glitched motions. "Girlfriend?" They shout in unison. Steve sighs loudly, tired of fucking up his attempts at flirting. It's like his brain and mouth do it on purpose. "I am not your girlfriend," Brooke rolls her eyes. She walks around to the other side of the counter now behind Steve. No shit, Martel, Steve thinks.

The glass windows open to reveal Robin and Paisley standing behind a whiteboard. "And another one bites the dust. You are oh—for—six, Popeye," Robin puts another tally under the YOU SUCK category. The YOU RULE side is empty to no surprise.

"Yeah, yeah, I can count," Steve says. The whiteboard taunts him. "You know that means you suck, right?" Robin asks while pointing to the
tally's.

"Yep, I can read, too," Steve says, more annoyed this time. Paisley claps her hands together, "Since when, Harrington?" Steve chooses to ignore them for his own sanity, "It's this stupid hat! I am telling you, it is totally blowing my best feature."

Brooke laughs, "Or you just keep opening up your mouth. That could be the issue," Her usual teasing smile forms on her face. The boy in front of her misses the beat that skipped, turning to look back at Robin.

"Yeah, company policy is a real drag," Robin says as she slides across the cold metal. Steve pouts for a second, overthinking every last word he's said all day.

Paisley squeezes herself between Robin and the window, she slides her way over, landing between Steve and Brooke. It's been odd watching the boy who had every girl Paisley wanted forgetting all his techniques. She pushes past him with a hit to the shoulder, "Telling the truth isn't the craziest idea. You can't be that bad—"

"Oh, you mean, that I couldn't even get into Tech and my douchebag dad's trying to teach me a lesson, I make three bucks an hour, and I have no future? That truth?" Steve talks so fast that his words feel jumbled together once he's done. "Yeah, that one. You also cut people off as well," Paisley rolls her eyes and adjusts her hat.

Brooke scoffs but Steve doesn't notice with his head in his hand. Brooke doesn't see the big deal, sure he peaked in high school but he's still—Steve to Brooke. She has no idea why graduating high school would mean he lost all his abilities to get dates. Maybe the trauma of getting his face bashed in last year affected him more than they thought.

"Hey, twelve o'clock," Robin whispers, pointing to the next group of victims walking in for ice cream. Brooke herself feels like a victim just from his performance a minute ago.

    Steve looks over his shoulder at the girls who are steadily approaching the counter, "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Okay....Uh....," He turns back to the girls, "I'm going in and.....you know what?" Steve throws his company hat right at Brooke who lets it hit her and fall to the floor.

"Screw company policy," Steve says confidently. "Oh, my God, you're a whole new man," Robin tells him sarcastically. "Right? Ooh?" Steve chuckles, shimmying his way over to the counter.

   The three girls stand with Robin in the middle behind the window. Brooke's mouth opens to say something but Steve's loud words scare her.

"Ahoy, ladies! Didn't you see you there. Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me? I'll be your captain. I'm Steve Harrington," Steve says in the most serious manner that Brooke has to puff her cheeks of air to stop the laugh from coming out.

"I hate this, I hate it," Brooke covers her eyes upon hearing the group of girls laugh at Steve.

"Can I get you guys a little taste of the Cherries Jubilee? No? Anybody? Banana boat? Four people, four spoons?" Steve continues on. Robin makes a visible disgusted face before writing another tally under YOU SUCK.

Brooke and Paisley match her face, walking into the back room. "Has it been 30 minutes? It feels like forever watching that shit show," Brooke sits down with the back of the chair to her chest, anger hides under the uncomfortableness in the bones of her ribs.

"How do you think we feel for 5 hours a day? You'll live," Robin says as she walks out to take Paisley's place on the floor.

PAISLEY RUNS TO HER car to open the passenger door for Robin. "M'lady," Paisley gestures. "Oh, how kind of you," Robin skips over to the car. The familiar scent of Paisley's dad's strong cologne and lilac fly up Robin's nose, giving her comfort.

   It's so secret the two girls have gotten close—spending their time off work sitting in a park, blasting music and talking about soulmates and if aliens would actually shove poles up their asses.

Steve's car speeds out of the parking lot with a quick wave to Paisley as she gets into her own. Even if Robin has been in close proximity with Paisley a million times, the cage around her heart still erupts into butterflies.

A smile forms on Paisley's face as the car comes to life, "Uh, my house? My dad—he's at a friend's house. That's why I have the car." Two friends hanging out, nothing more, nothing less. No reason to be nervous in the house alone, that's what Paisley keeps telling herself.

Robin wipes her sweaty palms on her stained uniform, "Oh—yeah, yeah. Your house. We've been there so many times—"

"We don't have to. We can go to Walmart and eat our high school troubles away," The smile still bright on Paisley's face. Robin mentally curses at herself, "No! I wanna go! I'm sorry. Let's go."

Paisley pulls her lip between her teeth. Her realization of liking girls made things harder and easier. Easier in the sense that she knows isn't broken—she's just wired differently. Brooke had told Paisley awhile ago that she felt attracted to everyone—not just boys but she couldn't find herself able to tell any of her best friends that it isn't boys and girls. It's just girls.

That's the hard part—one—of the hard parts. It's feeling like you're lying to everyone, sometimes even yourself. You try to convince yourself that maybe you haven't met the right guy as you sit and stare at the ceiling. Paisley knows it's all bullshit because when she thinks of marriage, she thinks of the cheerful blonde girl next to her who is going on about something new she learned in band.

"You should've seen Dash's face when I played the note, Paisley! I could show you tomorrow. The note," Robin excitedly taps the dashboard. Paisley wants to tear her eyes away from the road because she just knows Robin has the biggest smile on right now but she can't, she simply nods, "Yeah, yeah. I would love that, Robbi." The nickname causing a blush to snake up Robin's snake and to her cheeks.

BROOKE SITS WITH HER legs crossed trying to ignore El's bad taste in music—or Mike's, probably Mike's. The stupid nod and smile from Casey plaguing her brain to the point where Queen can't even stop it.

"A shower. A shower would help," Brooke says and turns the Walkman off. As her bedroom door swings open, El's green door slams open as well. Hopper and Mike come stomping out, one more distressed than the other.

"Did she fall?" Mike frantically asks Hopper. He stays quiet, grabbing his keys. "Who fell?" Brooke waves her hands for an answer. Mike spits out more questions that Brooke doesn't know who they're being asked about. Hopper storms out of the house, Mike right behind him.

El and Brooke awkwardly turns to each other. "Wh—What the hell happened?" Brooke asks. El blinks a few times, "I think Mike's grandma...died?"

Brooke's eyes widen, "Died? She died?" El shrugs, casually moving past the fact that her boyfriend's grandma could be dead, "Could my grandma be dead?" El abruptly asks.

Brooke only makes noises of words, not being able to get a proper one out. She smacks her arms against her sides, "Shit. Maybe. I wish mine was dead!" Brooke laughs but El stays still, even more confused than before.

"I'm just—ask Hopper. I need to—shower," Brooke moves slowly away from El and towards the bathroom, not wanting to deal with opening an unknown family wound of the little girl's.

———

SEASON 3 eeee trauma season. as if it couldn't get any worse