"DO YOU THINK MOM AND DAD would find out if I take today off?"

A quarter past eight in the morning found the two Reid siblings consuming their respective breakfasts beneath the glare of sunlight, nature's promise that the ensuing hours would be just as muggy as the day before. But while Amara had the perk of free ice cream at her disposal, Kevin was stuck working at Melvald's where the budget was too low to cover air conditioning anymore. He was sure that his girlfriend had a better job working as a camp counselor in her hometown of Marquette even if she had to contend with dozens of rambunctious kids – he'd take that over Hopper any day.

"They probably wouldn't, but you'd end up feeling guilty," Amara murmured, hazel eyes fixed on her fruity pebbles. "Besides, what else would you do all day? Your friends and girlfriend are all working as well."

"You weren't supposed to say that," Kevin objected, draining his coffee. "You were supposed to tell me that it won't make any difference because we have an average of three customers each day – in the words of every economics course we've both taken, we have such high supply and low demand that my not going there won't change anything. Plus, it's hard to take you seriously in that ridiculous outfit."

Amara glanced down at her obligatory Scoops uniform, the royal blue and white embellished with streaks of red as if to symbolize an American flag, similar to her battered converse crammed into a nook in her closet ever since she'd bought a new pair a few days after the skirmish with the Demodogs. "True, but if you don't go to work you won't get paid, even if it's less money than before. Also, I'm the person who gets you free ice cream whenever you want, so you don't get to talk," she reminded her brother with a scowl.

"And I'm very thankful for that – "

"But," Amara cut Kevin off with one raised palm, "I'm sure Mom and Dad wouldn't mind if you went to that protest against the mall tomorrow."

Kevin's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah, just don't mention you have a sister who works at the mall," Amara advised, to which Kevin nodded. "You still have to go to work today, though."

Kevin grumbled, dropping his head in his hands. "Fine, fine," he conceded. "Can you do me a favor and grab some more mint chip ice cream today?"

"Sure, as long as we watch a movie of my choice tonight," Amara proposed, getting up from her chair and dumping her empty bowl in the sink. "I'm in an Indiana Jones mood."

"Of course you are," Kevin teased, standing up as well and slinging his bag around one shoulder. "It stars Harrison Ford, and he looks an awful lot like – "

        "Kevin!"

"Relax, I'm just messing with you," Kevin assured Amara, ruffling her coppery brown hair before she could duck out of the way. "I'd love to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark for the millionth time."

Amara hadn't meant for Kevin to find out about her growing feelings for Steve, but he could read her like a book and had picked up on the fact that her mood had improved exponentially in the months since the Upside Down was no longer an ongoing threat, specifically after one night in mid-December. Similar to how Robin took pleasure in heckling Steve over his inability to score a date, Kevin loved to poke fun at his sister regarding the first guy she'd liked since Ashton. To be fair, Amara wasn't the best at concealing her emotions; she was pretty sure that Eurydice and Scott knew as well but hadn't brought it up as though they understood it would irritate her further. If anything, they were proud of their daughter for breaking out of her shell and forming meaningful connections the way they'd always wanted her to.

Even if Amara was falling for Steve, nothing about their friendship had altered. She simply felt a little fluttery around him and a sliver of jealousy when he flirted with other girls, though it was mostly amusing to watch. There was also a part of her that didn't want anything to change between them.

She and Kevin bid each other goodbye and departed to their job sites for the next ten hours. From there, Amara only needed to pick up Robin and drive them both to Starcourt, the parking lot rather full for almost nine in the morning. She could only hope that the townspeople of Hawkins would eventually grow bored of the mall and return to buying products at the outlets they had been shopping at for years, but months on it remained the focal point of the town. Kevin had every right to be aggravated that the mall was drawing customers away from Melvald's.

As expected, Scoops Ahoy was still sealed when Amara and Robin reached it, meaning they had beaten Steve to work again. Even if the three of them all resided approximately the same distance from the mall, Steve was always late to work.

"Maybe I should start a second scoreboard," Robin commented, unlocking the backroom so they could bring more supplies out front. "A 'you suck' for every time Steve gets here late."

"Don't you think that's a little too much?" Amara inquired, taking inventory of the cash they had before they opened for the day. "His ego's bruised enough as it is."

"Apparently not enough for him to stop terrorizing every girl who wants ice cream," Robin mumbled, erasing Steve's tally from the day before. "Getting him to give up his whole thing is my goal here."

"And if someone says yes to a date with him?" Amara raised an eyebrow. Even if the odds of a girl accepting a date with Steve were particularly slim, she didn't necessarily like the idea of him with someone. She hoped that didn't make her selfish.

"Come on, we both know that's not going to happen," Robin pointed out. "And even if it did, which is impossible, he'd still suck for choosing some random chick over you."

Amara groaned, not in the mood to deal with both Kevin and Robin heckling her. "Robin – "

"What might you ladies be talking about?"

Steve had materialized out of nowhere, leaning against the wall in an attempt to look charming. It might have worked if he wasn't attired in the same ludicrous sailor outfit as his fellow co-workers, or if he hadn't been trying too hard. Charisma came naturally to the old Steve: he used to have a way of captivating a good portion of the student body with a simple wink and smile. But that Steve was long gone and apparently so was his appeal to girls who desired more than a guy who had peaked in high school, someone who had no tangible future in sight.

"Nothing," Robin answered before Amara could. "We were just wondering when you're going to quit this whole flirting thing of yours, that's all."

"Yeah, and I was wondering when you're going to stop it with that scoreboard," Steve shot back, joining Amara and Robin behind the table.

"You stop failing to win anyone over and I'll put away the board," Robin offered. It was like Amara wasn't there anymore, stuck between the bickering of the two people she cherished more than anything in the world. She had held out hope that their working together at Scoops would lead to them getting along, but the opposite appeared to have occurred.

"Or, how about I score a date and you admit that I, in fact, rule," Steve retorted, jamming his hat atop his voluminous hair. "One 'you rule' has to be worth more than a ton of 'you suck's,' right?"

"Can you two please stop already?" Amara interrupted them both, gesturing to the queue of people awaiting them to take their orders. "If you haven't noticed, we've got customers."

"Okay, fine," Steve nodded, conscious by now of how much conflict unsettled Amara. With a quick apology, he decided to go on break first upon detecting that the line of customers consisted mostly of adults, some of who had brought along their children, leaving Robin and Amara to assume the tasks of scooping ice cream and working the cash register.

In all honesty, Steve didn't know why he'd been trying to win a date when none of the girls he'd flirted with behind the counter had the same effect on him that Amara did. Even if he didn't know any of them, he could tell a lot about them just by how they styled their hair or the clothes they wore, or even the fact that they had time to shop at the mall rather than work there. Despite what she believed, Amara had a future ahead of her and he couldn't take that away from her the way he would have with Nancy. His lousy attempts at chatting up girls were his method of trying to tame the erratic thumping of his heart that transpired simply from thinking of Amara, but a month later that strategy seemed to have failed.

He really was hopeless, and not because he'd lost his game. He'd fallen for another girl who deserved far more than he could offer.

BUSINESS WAS SLOW FOR THE FIRST half of their workday, culminating with Erica Sinclar, flanked by her entourage of friends, requesting an ice cream's worth of samples. Amara and Robin bought food from Burger King during their lunch break, paired with free milkshakes as a courtesy of their jobs. The former hadn't seen any of the Party at Starcourt so far, leading her to question if Will had actually convinced his friends to play a round of Dungeons and Dragons. Or maybe Dustin had finally returned home from Camp Know Where... yeah, that one was more likely.

The afternoon was typically the period when girls journeyed into Scoops Ahoy with armfuls of shopping bags and an appetite for ice cream. Robin and Amara had at one point started referring to it as 'girl o'clock' to Steve's chagrin, but it meant that the two of them were able to go on break while he suffered additional rejections. They were currently sat at the table in the backroom, listening intently as he served ice cream to two recent high school graduates.

"Alrighty, one scoop of chocolate. That's a buck-twenty-five. Anything else?" Steve was speaking over the nautical melody resounding in the background. "Ooh, Purdue. Fancy."

"Yeah, I'm excited," the girl's response was genuine, but Amara could tell by subtly peeking through the window that she was looking to leave sooner rather than later. It was odd how she was the one with autism and yet she was more perceptive of others than Steve at times.

"Yeah, you know, I considered it, Purdue, but then I was like, you know what? I really need some real-life experience, you know, before I hit college, see what it feels like," Steve lied through his teeth, depositing money into the register. "Kinda like, uh, I don't know, see what it's like to earn a working man's wage, you know? Uh... Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized when the register beeped, still not getting the hint that the girl wasn't interested in him, although it wasn't as if he was interested in her either. "I think that's, like, really important."

"Yeah, totally," the girl replied, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Yeah, anyway, this was, like, so fun," Steve persisted. Robin was shaking her head beside Amara, prepared to mark the scoreboard a sixth time. "We should kind of like, you know, I don't know, maybe hang out this weekend or – Oh, sorry about that," he apologized again after dropping change onto the counter, and even then he didn't let up. "Uh... I don't know. Maybe next weekend or – "

"Yeah, I'm busy," the girl chuckled awkwardly, pocketing the change in her purse.

"Oh, that's cool," Steve shrugged. Amara was half inclined to poke her head through the window and tell him to give up already but didn't upon realizing that her impulse had more to do with her emotions than anything else. For someone who took pride in being level-headed, she detested how a silly crush clouded her judgment more than she wished it to. "I'm – I'm working here next weekend, so... the following weekend's better for me."

Only when the girl's smile disappeared and she informed him, "No. I'm sorry, I can't," did Steve come to terms with the reality that he still sucked, according to Robin. The other girl made sure to at least thank him for the ice cream and the two of them vacated the parlor, giggling amongst themselves.

"I... This is... my first day here," Steve couldn't resist calling after them, another lie. He was left to sigh in disappointment at being turned down yet again, idly wondering why he was still trying after all this time.

"And another one bites the dust," Robin slid into view with her arms secured around that goddamn scoreboard, Amara emerging alongside her with a sympathetic smile. "You are oh-for-six, Popeye," she punctuated her statement by adding the sixth tally of the day.

"Yeah, yeah, I can count," Steve snapped, arms folded across his torso.

"You know that means you suck," Robin continued, basking in Steve's inability to earn himself a date. It was by far the most interesting part of her day.

"Yep, I can read, too."

"Since when?" Robin smirked coyly, pretending to be taken aback. Amara was slumped on the counter, fists carving indents into her jawline as she observed the two.

"It's this stupid hat," Steve griped, sauntering over to his two co-workers. "I am telling you, it is totally blowing my best feature."

"Yeah, company policy is a real drag," Robin droned, moving her whiteboard out of the way and leaning on her elbows. It wasn't as though she or Amara enjoyed wearing their hats either but it didn't annoy them nearly as much as it did Steve. "You know, it's a crazy idea, but have you considered... telling the truth?"

"Oh, you mean, that I couldn't even get into Tech and my douchebag dad's trying to teach me a lesson?" Steve hummed, lowering himself to Robin and Amara's level. "I make three bucks an hour and I have no future? That truth?"

"I wouldn't say that," Amara cut in. She always felt bad for Steve whenever he mentioned his father's low opinion of him. Even if he didn't quite know what his future entailed, she resented Mr. Harrington for giving up on his own son; contrary to him, her parents had never given up on her when everyone else had. Parental love was supposed to be unconditional, not warranted. "Maybe say that you wanted to contribute to the mall being a great place to go this summer, or that your friends were working here and you wanted to join them," she suggested.

Steve shifted his gaze to Robin as if questioning whether the detail about the two of them being friends was truthful, but the aforementioned girl was peering over his shoulder. "Hey, twelve o'clock," she signaled.

Steve pivoted around and detected a quartet of girls entering the parlor. It did no justice for his nerves, which had reignited just as he'd managed to subdue them. Muttering under his breath, he declared, "I'm going in. Okay? And you know what?" In one fluid motion, Steve yanked off his hat and tossed it onto the table. "Screw company policy."

"Oh, my God, you're a whole new man," Robin mused, not impressed in the slightest. Amara merely whispered a 'good luck' before Steve backed away from them, praying that the absence of his hat would revive his charm when he knew deep down that it wouldn't.

"Ahoy, ladies! Didn't see you there," Steve's boisterous greeting startled the girls waiting by the front counter, one of whom gasped. "Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me? I'll be your captain. I'm Steve Harrington," he added, wondering if mentioning that he was the same person they'd all fawned over at one point would make a difference.

"Oh, God," one of the girls muttered. Robin was cringing while Amara simply felt sorry for him at this stage.

"Can I get you guys a little taste of the Cherries Jubilee? No? Anybody?" Steve was rambling now; Robin hadn't even waited for him to finish before she sketched the seventh tally in the 'you suck' segment. "Banana Boat? Four people, four spoons? Share it in a booth? Anybody? It's hot out there."

Robin was right to have expected that zero out of the four girls would take up Steve's offer of a date, for all of them vacated Scoops as soon as Steve handed them their ice cream and change. He traipsed back to the window separating the parlor from the backroom, reluctantly positioning his hat back on his head.

"Hey Steve, want me to take over from here?" Amara queried. By now another drove of girls was crossing the threshold of the parlor; Steve took one glimpse at them and decided that he couldn't endure the humiliation of being turned down an eighth time that day.

        "Yes, please."

"I SWEAR TO GOD, the Chief's going to be the death of me."

It was nightfall and Kevin and Amara had both returned home after another long work day, the latter with a pint of mint chip ice cream as promised. A dull haze of light illuminated the kitchen where they were eating leftover Chinese food from Imperial Panda; Kevin had suggested that they eat in the living room while watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, but Amara noted that Eurydice would have a heart attack if she came home and found the living room dirty. So there they were, indulging themselves in lo mein noodles and sharing anecdotes of their day.

"I mean, it has to be a good sign for Hawkins if he's constantly stopping by," Amara theorized, trying to look at the situation from a different angle. She'd exchanged her Scoops outfit for denim shorts and a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt that practically swallowed her whole. "No crime, no drunk drivers... no interdimensional threats."

"You have a point there," Kevin laughed. "Today the Chief was pissed off because he caught El and Mike kissing and they disobeyed his three-inch minimum for the door or whatever, and Joyce helped write a 'heart-to-heart' speech for him, but he's probably going to screw it up. He also asked her out for dinner."

Amara's eyes widened. "The Chief and Mrs. Byers?" she questioned, her forehead wrinkled in deep thought. She wasn't blind to the soft spot Hopper held for Joyce, she knew that the two of them had a lot of history, but she hadn't expected Hopper to act on whatever it was he felt for Joyce. "I guess I can see that. What did she say?"

"She turned him down," Kevin relayed, winding noodles around his fork. "And not like in a harsh way, she just told him she'd be busy tonight. If I'm being honest, I think she's still grieving Bob."

"That makes sense," Amara mumbled. Joyce had been through a lot; her husband had never respected her nor their children and eventually left her for a world of booze and pretty strangers, one of her kids had nearly died twice, and the first guy to cherish her had sacrificed himself for her. She understood if Joyce wasn't ready to open herself up to the possibility of being vulnerable again, and she hoped that Hopper would be able to grasp that. "Anything else happen today?"

"I got a poster for tomorrow's protest," Kevin grinned, unzipping his bag to reveal a sign emblazoned with the words, SAVE DOWNTOWN. "Joyce is fine with me going, and she made the Chief promise not to arrest me."

"That's good, I don't want to have to tell Mom and Dad you landed yourself in jail," Amara beamed. By now she'd finished her dinner and had stood up to set her plate and utensils in the dishwasher. "Work today was mostly boring, but at least we have good business most days."

"How many tallies did Steve get today?" Kevin queried with a teasing smirk. It hadn't been Amara who had informed him of Robin's scoreboard, but rather the girl herself when he had enough free time in his schedule a few weeks ago to stop by Starcourt and check out the place where his sister worked.

"Seven, and they were all under the 'you suck' category," Amara held up her fingers for effect, journeying to the refrigerator to retrieve the cookies and cream ice cream she'd brought home for herself. "I'm actually getting to the point where I feel kind of – shit!"

She had tripped over a discarded magnet mid-sentence and was sprawled out on the floor, her entire body aching from the impact. Kevin was by her side in an instant, helping her to her feet. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Amara panted, bending down to pick up the magnet she'd stumbled upon. "I just tripped on a magnet, that's all."

"Oh, good," Kevin sighed in relief, taking the magnet from his sister and positioning it back on the fridge. "For a second I thought you saw a Demodog or some shit."

"No, don't worry," Amara reassured Kevin, reaching into the freezer and extracting both their ice creams. "One of us must've knocked into the fridge at some point. Wanna watch the movie now?"

"What about keeping the living room clean?" Kevin reminded her, arching his eyebrows.

"I've dealt with enough ice cream spills in the past month to know how to clean one," Amara reasoned. "Let us hurry. There is nothing to fear here."

Kevin promptly fell into character, "That's what scares me."

They seated themselves in the living room, popping Raiders of the Lost Ark into the VHS player. As always, Amara relished the escapism that science fiction provided her, curling her legs beneath her and eating from her ice cream. It was the quintessential summer even if she had to work every day, one with friends and the saccharine taste of strawberries and an improved level of self-assurance. She never wanted it to end.

But it was too good to be true. Amara and Kevin were too engrossed in Jones' getaway from the temple to overhear every magnet from the refrigerator tumble to the floor with a clatter. The power outages that had been occurring for weeks, that had ceased now, were the result of a clandestine operation disguised as a capitalist haven. And with that operation's success came the reawakening of a force that had laid dormant in Hawkins, hungry for revenge against everyone that had defeated it eight months prior.

Those midsummer days were sure to come to an end as Dustin Henderson picked up on a Russian broadcast and Billy Hargrove became the first of many possessed by the fragment of the Mind Flayer that had been expelled from Will's body. And even if Amara wouldn't hesitate to involve herself in the battle against the Upside Down for the third time, she was past the point where she felt like she needed to be a hero to others in order to feel as though she was of value.

published to quotev: 11/6/22
published to wattpad: 9/28/24

AUTHOR'S NOTE

i always found the magnets subplot kinda dumb but kevin would fit so well with the crew there