chapter twenty-two
hopelessly devoted

🖤

"HERE WE GO." THE RECORD PLAYER crackles a couple of times, as the sounds of Billy Joel fill the room. Steve's been picking the music the past hour, enjoying flicking through the new records Ruby got when she was away last. She's lying on her bed, peacefully watching him sort through them all, his fingers brushing against the top of each sleeve, before looking at the next one. It sounds weird of her to say, but sometimes, she loves watching Steve, and just seeing the way he interacts with the world. She has such a fascination when it comes to him, such an appreciation for everything he does. He could be doing the most boring task and she'd be obsessed.

"Dustin's back now," he tells her, as he shuffles through the records still. His brows are furrowed as if he's searching for one in particular, but she can't figure out what. She thought he'd be content with Billy Joel. "He dropped by just after you left, earlier."

"Oh, Steve, that's what I didn't tell you," she says, and she falls back on the bed, letting out a groan. "Guess who's a lifeguard now! Guess! My one safe haven in the summer, gone!"

"Uh, your safe haven is now the prestigious ice cream establishment, Scoops Ahoy?"

"Steven."

"OK, OK, who works there?"

"Billy."

"Dickhead," says Steve, and he truly means it. Ever since Billy won Snowflake King, he's been insufferable towards Steve... Even more insufferable, she means. Steve didn't even want Snowflake King, but since it was Ruby and Billy that won, Billy's seen it as a victory against him. The next victory would be winning Ruby back... Which would never happen. Steve thinks. Steve hopes.

Ruby snorts. "He's convinced he can win me back," she says, sounding irritated by it. Steve goes quiet for a moment, hoping she'll elaborate. "I just don't like the whole idea of winning someone, you know? I'm not an object. And anyway, what world is he living in? Why would I leave you for him?"

She looks up, because Steve is quiet, and sees that he's smiling to himself. Aw.

"I mean, I am pretty great," he says.

"The greatest," she says back.

Steve grins at her, and he extends his hand, gesturing for her to come to him. She jumps up, hugging him from behind. "Hang on, hang on, hang on," he tells her, and she watches him pick up an older single. The record slips out of its protective sleeve, and he replaces Billy Joel with the new vinyl. A familiar song begins to play.

It's Sandy's solo song from Grease, Hopelessly Devoted to You. Way back when, Ruby dragged Steve to the movies to watch it with her (she thought John Travolta was hot) and ever since, Hopelessly became their song. They had it on a mixtape at the library, where Ruby would stand on a car and jokingly serenade Steve. They'd force it to be played at parties, making their once-platonic love everyone's problem. Carol thought it was annoying, and Ruby thought it was the reason everyone thought her and Steve were fucking, but she didn't care, because it was fun, this unifying song between them. At the Winter Formal, Ruby bullied the band into playing it, and the two cleared the floor. It was their song!

"Guess mine is not the first heart broken..." The song plays, and Steve sings along. He turns around, so he can dance with Ruby.

He makes her twirl, as the song plays. Ruby grins up at him, feeling nothing but love.

"But baby, can't you see there's nothing else for me to do?

I'm hopelessly devoted to you..."

She thinks back to that whole year, where the two clearly liked each other, they were just too stubborn — and Ruby too insecure — to do something about it. She thinks it makes her appreciate everything now, as she rests her arms around her neck, throwing her head backwards as the chorus arrives, Ruby singing along.

"But now there's nowhere to hide

Since you pushed my love aside..."

He lets go of her hand to create a make-believe microphone with his fist, like he's serenading her. Ruby can't stop smiling, her hands raising themselves to rest on her heart.

"'Hold on to the end', that's what I intend to do..."

Steve drops to his knees, getting into the song. Ruby pulls him back up to his feet as the vinyl crackles to a halt, giving him a kiss.

He wraps his arms around her, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I wish this was what it was always like."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, not having to sneak around with parents. Like..."

"Like, living together?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says.

Ruby looks up at him, and smiles. She knows the conversation's going to turn to him claiming he can't leave Hawkins, but she wants to enjoy the idea for a moment, of the two of them living together. "Not in Hawkins, though," she tells him. "Somewhere far away... You could come with me, to New York."

"I guess there'd be a Scoops Ahoy there," he says, and just as he speaks, he places his hands on her hips, lifting her up to sit on her vanity. Her legs are sitting on either side of his waist.

Ruby raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Do you actually mean that?" she says. "I thought you said you wanted to work for your dad—"

"That could wait a little while," he says. He moves his hands up and down her thighs, idly. "I mean, maybe Scoops has a good manager's salary."

"You wanna work there your whole life?" she says.

"No, but you know what? There's gonna be so many bars and restaurants in New York that I could work at."

"What's with the change of heart?"

"I don't know," he says, and he kisses her neck again. She tilts her head back, to invite him in. "I just wanna be with you, that's all."

This 'change of heart' was the conversation earlier with Robin — and the following conversation with Dustin, who told him to get his shit together. "You want her to live somewhere that's given her all this trauma? Either you go with her, or she dumps you. Don't be a pussy." It was that last word that shocked Steve into action, because Dustin was right. Steve could get a job elsewhere for a while — hell, he could do so well in that that he wouldn't even need his dad's business! Or, his dad could give him connections in New York. But the thought of him and Ruby ending just because of distance... That's freaking him out.

"Ah! We could get a little apartment together!" Ruby puts her arms around his neck, grinning. "And we could get a dog — imagine, like, a Labrador, or a Golden Retriever, just following us around the whole place! And we could take it on walks in the park, and we could invite all of our friends 'round to ours and have parties, and we could get a load of prints from the Met and frame them and—"

Steve smiles. "We could get a camper-van in the summer and drive it out west. You know, do a road trip, stay on a beach somewhere in California..." He's always had this image in his head: of him and his pack of children, taking them in a big RV every summer around the country. Maybe they'd go down to Mexico, or up to Canada too. He's always pictured this, and for years, he couldn't figure out the mom, and accepted that one day, the right girl would fall into place — and that's what happened, two years ago. Everything made sense, the idea of Ruby being her. He can't picture her any older than she is now, but he knows she'd be a hot mom, and as reckless as she is, he knows that she'd be so caring. She's just... mindful of who she chooses to care about right now, but he guesses that makes sense, given everything that happened to her.

... He hasn't told her any of this, thinking kids would freak her out (not to mention the amount he wants) so he changes the thought ever so slightly, to cancel them out for now.

"I'd love that," she tells him. "We could always do that now."

His eyes widen. "Now?"

"Well, not like, right now, but this summer," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm sure someone in Hawkins would let us borrow their van for a week."

He was meant to say something like "I love you," but instead, he gets ahead of himself, and gives her the biggest kiss, their lips colliding with force. His eyes are squeezed shut but hers are wide open, surprised by the quickness of it all. But quickly, she softens into the kiss, her eyes fluttering shut as she kisses him back. His hands move to her ass, pulling her closer to him. Her arms are draped over his shoulders, but she manages to reach up, to play with his hair, knowing how much he likes that. Ruby always liked playing with boys' hair, so the fact that Steve was into it made it so much better.

They pull apart for a second, their noses brushing against each other, they're still so close.

"Imagine this," she says, and she moves his hands, so they're just underneath the hem of her pyjama shorts. "But in a New York City apartment..." Steve smiles softly, making Ruby beam, wanting to continue. "Like this, but on the kitchen counter... Or the sofa... Because no one's gonna walk in, right?"

"You... You do something to me, Rubes," he says, under his breath.

She smiles. "I know."

It's at this point that Steve picks her up, her legs wrapped around his hips, and places her down on the bed. Ruby lets out a squeal as she falls back onto her mattress, Steve laughing at her girlishness. She could save the world, and yet, she responds in these situations like any other teenage girl. He climbs on top of her, her legs wrapping around his waist. His lips kiss her mouth, moving down to her neck. She murmurs his name as her hands grab his t-shirt, one hand slowly moving further and further down...

... And that's the end to the most perfect day.

🖤

ENTER ROSEMARY HOPPER. WELL — not exactly Rosemary Hopper, but the image of her. The Mind Flayer is a cunning beast, something Ruby's yet to realise. It wants Ruby in its grasp. It wants the girl that can stop it, under its control. What can the others do then, kill Ruby Brenner? They would never dare. Instead, they'll try to save her — but that's where it'll all go wrong. The Mind Flayer will use this to kill them all, the other special girl in particular. And then, who can stop him?

So he grants Ruby a gift.

🖤

"RUBY, RUBY!" A STRANGELY FAMILIAR VOICE calls her out to her the next morning. Ruby jumps awake, worried about the teenage boy next to her being discovered. She can't quite figure out who the voice belongs to, but it sounds enough like Carrie's for Ruby, in her half-asleep state, to panic. She jumps out of bed — before she can get to the door, though, it swings open. Ruby flinches, waiting for her aunt to kill her—

But it's not her aunt.

It's her mom.

Ruby isn't even in her own house.

Ruby steps backwards, realising that Steve isn't even here. Her mom can't see her, and instead walks towards the children's bed on the opposite wall, underneath the window. A little girl with dark brown hair sits up in her bed, rubbing her eyes. Rosemary smiles at her.

"How's my little jewel?" her mom says.

The little girl's Ruby, she realises. Ruby watches as her younger self gets out of bed, her mom encouraging her to start getting ready. She doesn't know her age here, but she's young enough that her mom's still alive. Ruby watches her mom pick out Younger Ruby's outfit, a lilac dress. Ruby's seen the pictures of herself in this; she's about three in this memory. This must be just before her mom got pregnant again. Ruby doesn't remember any of this, she was too young. She barely remembers her mom...

"I wanna see Steve!" her younger self exclaims.

"How about we meet him at the park later?" her mom suggests, brushing Little Ruby's hair.

Ruby feels her heart sink. She watches her mom delicately braid Little Ruby's hair, carefully wrapping lilac ribbons around the ends, making small bows. Ruby wishes she could remember this. Little Ruby grabs a Barbie, and starts playing with it, and Rosemary starts telling her about what Hopper's up to today. "Now, you and Daddy are gonna go to the movies later, yeah? To see your first ever movie?"

"I wanna see him now, Mommy!"

"He's working, honey," Rosemary tells her. "I can't be a hot housewife if he doesn't work."

Ah. So Ruby got the dry arrogance from her mom... Checks out.

But that's the thing! Ruby would never know that, if she wasn't watching this now. She feels a sinking feeling in her stomach, at the thought of all of these moments she was present for, that she can't even remember now. She had a whole life with her mom around, and her entire memory has slipped away, too young for anything to stick. Desperately, she wishes she could remember more, see the mother she doesn't remember.

"I can show you," the deep voice tells her.

"How?" says Ruby.

"I live inside of your mind, I can take you to the most inaccessible of memories..." She keeps on racking her brain to figure out where she recognises this voice from, but the voice already knows this. "Don't try and remember me. All you need to know is that I'm your friend... You just need to let me in."

"Let you in?" she says.

"Let me in," he says.

"Why?" she says.

But just as she asks this, she looks across at her mother, who's fingers make a light movement, and the dresser drawer open by themselves. Did her mom have powers, too?

"No transaction in life is free, Ruby, Ruby," he tells her, murmuring her name, echoing the old song her mom used to play. "Let me in."

"Did my mom have powers?" says Ruby.

"I want to help you, Ruby. But you need to help me."

Ruby doesn't know what to say. She looks across at her mother, as she picks up Little Ruby and takes her out of the bedroom. The bedroom door closes by itself, and Ruby has countless recollections of doing that herself, with her mind. She never even considered that Rosemary had powers, too. Maybe that's why Ruby's are so strong, were so natural? Because her mom had them before her...

"Ruby. Let. Me. In."

The alarm clock rings, and Ruby shoots upright.

What was that?

idk if i'll ever write smut smut but i hope you enjoyed!!! let me know what you thought xx