The next day, Dorothy informed Jenna that Wayne liked the idea of having dinner at the food court so that the two could finally meet. Dorothy also told her that he was going to invite Eddie along as well, which Jenna wanted to roll her eyes at, but held back in doing so.

While Jenna was looking forward to meeting the man that made her mom happy these last few months, she was also nervous about it. What if he didn't like her? What if she didn't like him? What if this dinner ended horribly? She didn't want to mess this up for everyone and make things awkward between her mom and Wayne. Or even worse than that, she didn't want to be the reason they broke up. Jenna was certain that Eddie would put the blame on her if that were to happen.

On the way to Starcourt Mall late afternoon, her mom was telling Jenna what stores were inside, going over the ones with clothes, as she figured those would interest Jenna more than the others. The more she talked about it, the more excited Jenna was to see this mall for herself.

"It's amazing they got it done in such a short amount of time," she said while driving through downtown. "You still thinking about getting a job there?"

"Yeah," Jenna replied. "Maybe I can see who's hiring while we look around." She paused for a moment, "Speaking of jobs, did you know that Steve works at the food court?"

A surprise look came over her mom's face. "No, I didn't," she admitted. "I mean, I've only been there once with Wayne, and there was always a girl working there." She stopped talking as she turned to glance at Jenna. "I would've told you if I had known."

Nodding, Jenna looked out the window as they were leaving downtown. "I saw him last night, too."

"Oh, really?" Dorothy raised her eyebrows at this. "Where at?"

"The quarry. He and Janet showed up while I was there."

"Did you say anything to them?"

Jenna shook her head. "No. No, I...I couldn't." She was almost embarrassed to even go over the brief encounter, remembering how she rushed to get in her car and away from them as fast as she could. It was so stupid of her to do it, but she didn't know what to say to them.

"You can't avoid Steve forever, you know," her mom stated.

"Yeah, I know."

Seeing how tense Jenna was getting, her mom changed the subject. "Anyway, I'm very excited about you and Wayne finally meeting. I think you're gonna like him."

Jenna gave her a weak smile in response. "Can't wait." Now I really can't mess this up.

When they arrived at Starcourt Mall, it took a few minutes for Dorothy to find a parking spot, passing by all the cars lined up in each space wherever she turned. She was finally able to snag a spot near the bus stop, fitting her car right in between the lines perfectly. As the two walked across the parking lot towards the mall, Jenna took a look at the front of the building in awe, scanning from left to right at it, along with the big and bright letters that said STARCOURT MALL as they walked under them. Instant relief came upon them when entering inside, the cool air hitting them in the face. Jenna was even more impressed by the colorful interior of the mall, glancing at all the stores on both floors.

"Holy shit," Jenna mumbled as she approached the railings and looked down at the lower level.

Her mom let out a chuckle. "Pretty cool, isn't it? Come on. Let's go check out the stores."

The two started on the upper level, going to whichever store caught Jenna's eye first. Going through the clothes, Dorothy helped her pick out a few things, narrowing it down to a few items. It was the same routine for every store they went to, along with checking out any hiring signs on the windows, and the two of them were enjoying the time being spent together.

As they made their way to the ground floor, the girls only had time for a few more stores before meeting Wayne and Eddie at the food court. Jenna and her mom decided on The Gap, to which Jenna resisted the urge to glance at Scoops Ahoy nearby, knowing that Steve would be working there. Once they made it inside The Gap, her mom quickly got distracted by the shoes, while Jenna found herself heading towards the swimsuits. She was going back and forth between two, one bright red and the other green and white-striped. Glancing at both of them, she debated on which one to get, holding them up in front of a mirror.

"You should get the red one."

Jenna turned her head to see Billy Hargrove standing there, a smirk on his face as he leaned against the wall. The more she stared at him, the more she realized that he looked and acted exactly the same before she left Hawkins. Of course, with a person like Billy, she didn't expect any change from him.

Looking back at the swimsuits, Jenna finally put the red one back on the rack. "I like this one better," she said, holding up the green and white-striped suit.

"But red's definitely your color," he protested. "Especially with that new hair of yours."

"I disagree."

He chuckled. "It's been a while since we last saw each other, Jenna. You still look good."

"Uh, thanks," she said, furrowing her eyebrows at him, getting a weird feeling from his compliment.

"So, where were you the last six months?" he asked.

"I was staying with some family," she simply replied.

He nodded as he started to make his way towards her. "You know, I gotta admit, I was a little hurt that you didn't say goodbye to me before leaving Hawkins."

"Since when were we ever friends?" she retorted. "Hell, we weren't really anything."

"That's because you didn't give me a chance," he pointed out. "Maybe if my date doesn't work out tonight, then you and I can give it another shot." Pausing, he took a moment to stare at Jenna some more, his eyes scanning up and down. "Especially since Harrington is no longer in the picture."

The mention of Steve made Jenna clench her fist with her free hand, shooting a dirty look at Billy. "Look, I'm not interested, okay? So how about you just leave me alone?"

His smirk faded a little, letting out a scoff. "Still playing hard to get, I see." Adding another chuckle, he began to back away. "But I'm not worried. You'll come around one way or another. They always do."

Jenna kept a glare his way, standing her ground. "Bite me, Hargrove."

He raised his eyebrows, inhaling a breath, as if he was trying to keep himself composed from being rejected again. "Well, you can find me at the Hawkins Community Pool if you change your mind. Maybe I'll see you around there." With that, Billy winked at Jenna before turning around and heading towards the other side of the store, much to her relief.

"Find a new bathing suit?" Dorothy spoke up as she approached Jenna, carrying a pair of shoes in her hand.

"Oh, yeah," Jenna said, snapping out of her thoughts and showing her mom the one she picked out.

She nodded her head with an approved look on her face. "Very nice. How about we go pay for these and head to the food court? It's almost time to meet Wayne and Eddie."

So the two of them went to purchase the shoes and swimsuit, then exited the store and headed across the mall and to the food court. On the way to New York Pizza, Jenna noticed the pretzel place next to it, remembering her mom saying that Carter worked there now. Sure enough, she glanced over at Hot Sam Pretzels and spotted him at the front counter, dealing with a couple of customers as he handed money to them. Next to him was Carlie, the familiar waitress from Leslie's Diner, who was grabbing two pretzels from a stand for the customers. As the customers were walking away to a table, Carter's eyes landed on Jenna's, looking a bit surprised to see her standing there. They exchanged awkward waves before Jenna turned her head and spotted Wayne and Eddie already sitting down at a table.

Dorothy let out a shaky breath as they continued walking. "Okay, listen, I know you and Eddie aren't exactly the best of friends--"

"Got that right," Jenna cut her off, scoffing.

"--but I'd appreciate it if you could be civil with him during this dinner," she finished, ignoring what her daughter had said, giving her a serious look. "Just promise me that you'll behave for my sake and for Wayne's."

Jenna wanted to roll my eyes, but she sighed instead. "I promise."

Dorothy nodded her head, though she didn't look relieved by Jenna's answer.

When Wayne spotted the girls, he quickly stood up, smiling as his eyes went to Dorothy, who smiled back at him. Eddie got up from his seat, putting his hands together and swaying from side to side in an awkward manner. Jenna could already tell by his body language that he didn't want to be here.

"Hi, Dorothy," Wayne greeted, giving her a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Hi, Wayne," she replied, smiling.

He gave her a smile back before he turned his head towards Jenna. "And you must be Jenna." He extended his hand out for her to shake. "It's so nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too," she said, grinning as she shook his hand, looking at the plaid shirt and jeans he had on.

"And you know my nephew Eddie here," he said, motioning his hand towards Eddie, who awkwardly smiled and waved at her.

Jenna waved back, noticing his white graphic t-shirt and the red and black flannel shirt over it, along with a pair of worn-out jeans and sneakers. His hair was still a bit messy and frizzy like it usually was, though the humidity outside probably caused some of that.

"How about we get some pizza?" Wayne spoke up before it got too tense. "A large pepperoni okay with everyone?"

The rest agreed, to which Wayne and Dorothy went to get the pizza, while Eddie and Jenna were set with the task of getting plates and napkins.

"So..." Eddie started to say, pulling out a bunch of napkins from the dispenser. "Your mom and my uncle..."

"Uh, yeah," Jenna said, letting out a scoff. "I didn't expect that to happen while I was away." She paused, eyeing him. "But you and Dana, though..."

Eddie grinned in response. "Yeah, I think everyone knew it'd happen eventually." He stopped talking for a moment, glancing behind her. "I kind of thought the same would happen between you and..." Trailing off, his grin faded when he looked back at Jenna, as if he knew what he'd say next would be the wrong thing. "Never mind."

It was obvious that he was referring to her and Steve, and the more he was on her mind, the more she wanted to look over at his job and see him there. But Jenna couldn't take the chance of her catching his eyes and from across the food court and things being tense from such a far distance. The tension would be so thick that she was sure everyone would notice it at some point.

Once Eddie and Jenna got back to the table, Dorothy and Wayne were already there with the pizza and drinks. They got settled in their seats, each of them getting a slice of pizza and slapping it on their plates, the grease already dripping off the cheese. The four started to eat, staying quiet as they devoured their slices, then going for seconds. When Jenna was reaching for the last slice, so was Wayne, to which the two bumped hands, resulting in both of them quickly pulling back.

"Sorry," she said. "You can have it."

Wayne shook his head, smiling a little. "No, that's okay. It's yours if you want it."

So reluctantly, Jenna took the last slice and quietly ate it, shooting him an awkward smile back.

But by the time the pizza was gone, Wayne broke the silence by clearing his throat. "So, Jenna, your mom said you were in Nashville for the last six months," he stated.

Jenna nodded, taking a sip of her Coke. "Yeah, I was," she confirmed. "I decided to stay with some family there for a while."

"That sounds nice," he said. "I've been wantin' to take Eddie on a road trip someday. It's just hard for either one of us to get out of Hawkins to go anywhere." The older man glanced at Eddie sitting next to him. "Maybe if this one can manage to graduate high school this year then we'll think about goin' somewhere for a few days."

Eddie shot him a forced smile, trying not to look so annoyed by his statement. "Yeah, maybe '86 will be my year."

Noticing the awkwardness coming on again, Jenna interjected. "Anyway, Nashville was nice. I enjoyed my time there." Pausing, she looked over at Dorothy beside her. "But I know my mom is happy to have me back."

"Yes, I most certainly am," she agreed, smiling.

"She's been talkin' about you non-stop," Wayne told Jenna, chuckling. "I'm glad I finally get to meet the most important person in her life."

Jenna grinned at this. "Well, I think I'm gonna have to share that title with you."

Smiling, her mom grabbed a hold of Wayne's hand from across the table. "He does mean a lot to me."

"And I feel the exact same way about her." Wayne smiled back and squeezed her hand.

"Okay, well, I think it's time for dessert," Eddie spoke up.

"That's a great idea," Wayne said, glancing across the food court. "How about some ice cream from that Scoops Ahoy place over there?"

Jenna shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Dorothy and Eddie's eyes landed on her. But with some hesitance, she nodded her head. "Yeah, ice cream sounds great," she replied, her smile a little bit weaker than the last one.

Wayne nodded back, then looked over at Eddie. "How about you and Jenna go get some for all of us?"

Eddie and Jenna exchanged another glance at each other before standing up and getting money from Wayne. After the two adults said to surprise them with whatever ice cream flavor, they headed towards Scoops Ahoy, with Jenna already feeling her palms sweating as she rubbed them together.

"How awkward do you think this is gonna get between you and Harrington?" Eddie asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"So it'll probably be a shit show."

"Most likely."

"Awesome."

Jenna rolled my eyes at his sarcastic response. Her heart was beating faster once they reached the ice cream parlor, getting in line behind a group of girls. She could hear them giggling, then the sound of Steve's voice chimed in as he was telling them about all of the flavors they could choose from.

"How about strawberry? No? No strawberry? Okay, maybe butterscotch, then? I mean, it's not really my favorite flavor..."

"I think I'll just settle with chocolate," one of the girls stated.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, sure." There was a pause as Steve scooped out some chocolate ice cream onto a cone. "You can never go wrong with chocolate, right?"

The more Jenna watched Steve's flirtatious manner, the more anxious she was getting with approaching him. She kept thinking about how he was going to react seeing her here.

What would he say to me? What the hell was I supposed to say to him?

Jenna already wished she hadn't agreed to get ice cream, knowing that this was a bad idea.

"Hellooo. Earth to Howard."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Jenna turned towards Eddie. "What?"

"I was asking you what flavor you were gonna get."

"Oh," she stated. "Probably Superman."

Eddie raised his eyebrows. "Really? Not rocky road? Seems more like your kind of flavor, if you ask me."

She shot him a glare, understanding what he was trying to imply. "Well, I didn't ask. Besides, Superman is my favorite."

He nodded his head. "That just so happens to be my favorite, too. At least we've got something in common."

She scoffed. "So what, we like the same type of ice cream and now we're best friends?"

"That's a bit of a stretch," he informed her. "But it wouldn't surprise me if things got serious between my uncle and your mom. So we might as well try and get along."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at him again, Jenna let out a sigh of defeat instead. "Fine. It's nice to know your taste in ice cream isn't so bad."

"Yeah, considering your taste in Pop-Tarts suck."

Before Jenna could come up with a rebuttal, the girls in front of them were starting to walk away, where she found Steve leaning against the counter, spinning the scooper in between his fingers, with a goofy smile on his face.

"Alright, well, see you ladies later!" he called out, then turned his head towards Jenna and Eddie, to which the smile on his face faded and now filled with surprise as the scooper flung out of his hand, fumbling to catch it before it hit the ground. "Jenna."

She slowly made her way towards the counter, with Eddie right behind her. "Steve," she replied, attempting to stay calm, noticing the ridiculous sailor uniform he was wearing. Jenna wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or feel sorry for him that he had to wear it.

"I-I didn't expect to see you here," he admitted.

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect to be here," she blurted, though she instantly regretted that response. "Shit. That was--"

"Steve!"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Here we go," he muttered.

A familiar girl with short, dirty blonde hair appeared from the back windows, holding a large empty box in her hand. "Please tell me you didn't use all of the small bowls today already."

"There's two more boxes, Robin. I put them back there myself."

"Well, I can't find them."

"Then look harder."

Jenna was rocking back and forth on her heels, hoping that this girl would go away so that she could order some ice cream and get as far away from Scoops Ahoy as possible. She started to fidget with her hands a little, tempted to wipe them on the counter when she felt them get a little sweaty.

"How about you come back here and look for them yourself?"

God, can't she just stop arguing with him and leave us? Jenna was close to rolling her eyes in annoyance, her patience wearing thin.

Steve huffed out a sigh. "I will after I handle these customers."

Robin, looking annoyed, accepted his answer, anyway, sliding the windows shut.

Finally, Jenna thought, almost letting out a sigh of relief once she was gone.

"She seems cool," Eddie commented.

Steve scoffed, shaking his head. "She's definitely not," he retorted, his eyes fixated on the ice cream flavors. "Anyway, what would you like?"

"Two cones," Eddie stated. "One scoop of Superman and one scoop of mint chocolate chip."

Nodding, Steve took a minute to get the two ice cream cones for Eddie, then turned to Jenna next. "What about you, Jenna?"

She didn't say anything for a moment, only able to stare at Steve and finding it hard to believe how normal he was acting around her. Hell, how could she act the same way and pretend this interaction wasn't awkward and tense? What was he thinking right now? Their fight? Him seeing her at the quarry last night? So many questions and yet they had to be left unanswered.

"I'll get the same thing," she finally managed to say, motioning her head towards the two cones in Eddie's hand.

Steve nodded his head again and got two more cones. He tended to look up at Jenna every few seconds, which caused her to quickly turn her head towards the counter. Jenna did her best to glance at him as he was scooping out Superman for one cone and mint chocolate chip for the other. When he reached over the counter to hand them to Jenna, her hands touched his as she took the cones, causing him to quickly pull away and tense up a little.

"So, uh, that'll be it?" he asked, his eyes scanning back and forth between Jenna and Eddie.

"Yeah, just these four cones," Eddie spoke up, using his fingers to flick Steve some cash on the counter. "Keep the change."

"Cool, thanks," Steve said, getting the change out of the register and placing it in the tip jar. "Well, I hope you enjoy the ice cream."

Jenna gave him a weak smile. "Thanks. I'll see you around, Steve."

"Yeah, see you around, Jenna," he said, nodding before turning around and heading to the back.

"Well, that wasn't awkward," Eddie mumbled in a sarcastic tone.

"You think?" Jenna retorted.

"Let's just hope those cones didn't get soggy from all that sweat on your hands."

"Shut up, Munson."

As the two headed out of Scoops Ahoy and back to their table across the food court, Jenna felt some relief and dread come over her, knowing that while having a short conversation was a start, she and Steve still had to talk about everything else that had gone down between them, and whether or not that would go well, she had no idea.

When they got back to the table, both Dorothy and Wayne happily grabbed the mint chocolate chip cones from their hands.

"This looks good," Wayne commented. "Hopefully, you had no trouble gettin' it."

"No, not at all," Jenna said, trying to convince him with a smile.

"So everything went okay?" Dorothy inquired, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, it went okay," she replied, knowing what her mom was referring to.

But really, nothing about it went okay, and there was no way to tell if it ever would be between Jenna and her best friend.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Weeeell, that was awkward (and also the end of episode one).

What do y'all think?

Comment, vote, more to come soon!

-A