Jailbird || Stranger Things

forty-one ➵ riding the airwaves

"Morning," Jim greeted Teresa as she stumbled out of the bathroom.

Although they'd added two extensions to the cabin, one for Hopper and one for Teresa, with the amount of shifts she had taken on, they spent most of their time in the living room and kitchen areas, purely to spend as much time together as possible. Which was exactly why she always attempted to stick to her fifteen minute allowance in the shower, unless she was preparing for a big night, like prom.

Not that that was going to happen again, in all honesty. She didn't want to repeat it.

"Morning," she mumbled, tying up her hair with her red, mostly used for work at the pool, scrunchie. "Is there breakfast?" she asked, looking up at her father.

"What do you want?"

"Grilled cheese," she sighed, a smile stretching over her face simply at the idea.

Hopper let out a quiet, albeit happy, chuckle, and turned to flip the sandwich in the pan. He knew her too well. "What's your plan?" he asked, handing her the plate with two grilled cheeses piled on top of each other.

"I gotta go to the mall, Dustin's back and I haven't seen him yet, so I was gonna get some ice cream with him and Steve, visit Robin. Then maybe hang out with El, I guess, if Mike ever leaves," she shrugged, pulling herself up onto the counter and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Oh, don't worry. She'll have time," he turned away, pouring milk into his cereal while trying to hold back a smile.

"Cool," Reese nodded, but her head suddenly snapped up as she noticed the tone of his voice. "Wait—"

The front door suddenly shut, El making her way to the phone hung up on the wall by the kitchen. Teresa watched with a confused expression as the younger girl dialled a phone number, but soon put it back down.

"Hey," Reese's eyebrows furrowed as El turned to look at her for a moment.

"Is everything okay?" Jim asked as the girl looked to the clock by the tv.

"Yes."

As she disappeared into her room with the receiver, Teresa slowly turned to her father, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Maybe Joyce didn't succeed in her little pep talk? If anything, maybe her father messed it up.

She knew she shouldn't have left him alone.

"What did you do?"

"Me?" Jim asked, wiping the small smile from his face as he realised his daughter had her eyes on him. "Nothing."

"Uh-huh," she nodded, not believing him at all. "Nothing, my ass," she bit into the sandwich still watching him with suspicious eyes.

"Stop staring at me. I gotta go to work."

Honestly. If it wasn't an inter dimensional being, she had to clean up after her own father. What a damn ungrateful life.

As Jim left, Teresa knocked on El's door, and once she heard a soft, albeit confused, hum, she opened the door. What a familiar situation.

"Hey," she leaned on the doorframe as El stared out the window, her brain working and turning over different scenarios. "What's going on?"

──────

"I gotta go to the mall, but here," Teresa lifted herself from the seat to dig into her pockets, pulling out all the change she had and dropping it into the open hands of El. "Max knows what bus it is, so I can either meet you there, or radio me," she leaned over to open the glovebox, giving her the extra radio she kept there. "Channel 11 if you don't want the boys to hear."