Chapter Text
“Lex! Get up!”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Will’s voice was ringing in my ears. I groan and pull my comforter over my head. I was exhausted from staying up late reading the night before. I hear my bedroom door creeping open and footsteps making their way to my bed.
“Alex, wake up. Mom’s almost done with breakfast.”
I peek out from under my dark green comforter and see my little brother, towering over me, with the cutest smile on his face.
“I am awake,” I tell him.
“Come on,” Will whines.
It makes me laugh every time.
“Get out, Will, and let me get dressed.”
Will’s eyes widen and he bolts out of my room, slamming the door.
“Hey! Don’t slam the damn door!” I hear Mom yell at Will.
I smile and throw the covers off and slide out of bed. My hair was definitely crazy. The whole backside of my head was flat from laying on my back. It was a pain in the ass. No brush was gonna fix this mess. I grab my favorite gray scrunchie and put my hair up into a messy bun. I strip my pj's and throw on my jeans that were on the floor. I grab my long-sleeved striped shirt and put it on, tucking the ends into my jeans. I go to my vanity mirror and sit in my chair and grab my makeup back and start putting on makeup.
Knock. Knock.
“Alex honey?”
“You can come in,” I say.
Mom opens the door just enough to poke her head in.
“Breakfast is ready.”
I look over my right shoulder and smile.
“Okay, I’m just getting ready.”
“Shouldn’t you wash your face first? It would help with—“
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I’m lazy.”
Mom rolls her eyes.
“Just hurry up. The bacon is getting cold.”
She closes the door and I turn back to my mirror. I don’t wear a lot of makeup honestly. I hate the feeling of it caking on my face. Today and like every other normal day, I have a black smokey eyeshadow look, mascara, and light foundation to cover the small acne spots on my cheeks, blush, and mauve-colored lipstick. I put on my rings, one on my ring and the middle finger on both hands. They were simple silver rings that if I wasn’t wearing them, I felt naked. I put on my silver necklace which had a locket pendant. The contents of the locket were precious to me. I gave myself one more look in the mirror and made a mental note that I should consider shaving my head right as I got up from the chair and left my room.
Will was sitting at the table, pushing around his food on his plate with a fork. Mom was in the kitchen grabbing a cup of coffee.
“Where’s Jonathan?” I ask.
Mom pauses and looks at me. The ‘oh’ moment is clear in her eyes when she sees she’s missing a child at the table.
“Go wake him up please.” Mom drinks her coffee, leaning against the countertop.
I swivel my foot to turn me around and I walk up to Jonathan’s bedroom door and bang on it with my fist.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“Hey, asshat! Wake up! You're going to be late to work!” I yell.
“Language!” Mom yells at me.
“SHIT!” I hear a voice coming from his bedroom—except it’s not my brother’s voice.
I press my ear to the door and can hear scrambling.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” The girl’s voice shouted.
“Wh—what’s wrong?” Jonathan’s voice sounded groggy.
My jaw drops. Fuck he has Nancy over.
“It’s almost 9:00!” Nancy squeals.
“What?” Jonathan sounds stressed.
I would be too if I was gonna be late to work.
“We forgot to reset the clocks,” Nancy says. “The power went out last night, remember?”
“Oh shit!”
I giggle and walk back to the kitchen.
“Did he wake up?” Mom asks.
“Oh, he’s definitely awake.” I laugh.
Mom and Will look at me confused until they see Jonathan trying to sneak out of the house as fast as he can.
“Hey, hey! Wait up.” Mom tells him.
“Oh, no, I’ll eat at work, Mom. I’m late!”
“No, oh your cheek.” Mom wipes a red lipstick stain off Jonathan’s face. Will and I both giggle and Jonathan give us a death glare.
“Alright, alright.” He pushes Mom’s hand off his face and heads for the door.
“I gotta run. See you late.”
“Alright.” Mom waves Jonathan off and comes to the table, sitting with Will and me.
“Ugh, gross.” Will expresses.
“Well, I don’t think you’re gonna think it’s gross when you fall in love,” Mom says.
“She’s not wrong.” I agree.
Will glares at me. “You’ve never had a boyfriend.”
I shrug my shoulders, in defeat.
“Anyway, I’m not gonna fall in love,” Will grumbles.
“Okay, but it might hit you when you least expect it. Take Alex for instance.” Mom says, taking a bite of the scrambled eggs.
I pause eating my piece of bacon and look at my mom.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“Well, you know.” Mom winks at me and I frown.
“No, I don’t actually. I’m confused.”
“You and Steve,” Mom says innocently.
Will starts laughing. I can feel my face turn a shade of red.
“MOM! STOP! NO!” I try to defend myself.
“What? He’s cute, right?” Mom smiles.
Will is having a hoot with this conversation and at this point, I know it’ll come to bite me in the ass if Will opens his big mouth to his friends. They are practically Steve's children.
“He is my best friend. Nothing more, nothing less. Please don’t make this into a thing. I beg you.” I finish eating my food and put my plate into the sink.
“Okay, okay, I’ll drop it.” Mom says, “Hey, what—“
Mom gets up from her chair and goes toward the fridge. I look at her and see that the magnets had fallen from the fridge along with the papers.
“What happened here?” She says out loud.
“I don’t know.” Will and I say simultaneously.
Mom crouches down and puts the magnets and papers back up on the fridge. I watch her as she pauses to put up a certain picture. She smiles at it and puts it up and I see that it’s the picture Will drew of Bob as a superhero. Bob’s death hit hard for our family, especially Mom. She really cared about it. But the memories connected to Bob, connected to the bad memories of the Mind Flayer and the Demogorgons. I wished my memory could be wiped sometimes.
“Hey mom, can you drop me off at the mall before you go to work?” I ask, walking over to Mom, who was still staring at the drawing. I wrap my arms around Mom, hugging her from behind.
“Yeah, do you want me to pick you up when I get off?” Mom asks, leaving my hug and facing me.
“I can have someone drop me off at the store,” I say. Mom nods her head and goes to grab her empty plate to put in the sink.
“By ‘someone’ you mean Steve,” Will announces.
“Robin. Robin will take me.” I quickly say.
“Alright go grab your stuff,” Mom says, getting her jacket and purse.
I run to my room and throw on my black socks and black high-top converse. I grab my bag and put in my walkman, wallet, my journal, pens, and the book I was reading last night. I walk out of my room with my stuff and meet Mom outside. As we get in the car, Will runs out of the house, backpack strapped to his back.
“Where are you going?” Mom yells after him.
“Dustin comes back from camp today. We are meeting up at his house to surprise him!” Will jumps on his bike and pedals off.
“Ok have fun! Be safe!” Mom yells back at him as he rides off.
I shake my head and laugh. I put my headphones over my ears and play a mixtape. “Material Girl’ floods my mind and it has me smiling. Mom grins, she starts her car and we drive off.