Halley's comet | Steve Harrington

xxii. fight club

"𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒖𝒑, 𝑱𝒐𝒏!"

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

Shopping for deadly weapons with her brother and Nancy Wheeler wasn't exactly how Halley expected her day to go.

She also didn't expect to run into Caroline and her father while trying to get into the army surplus store. The two were coming out of the pizza joint across the street, carrying two large boxes and a two-liter bottle of Coca Cola.

Halley waved Jonathan and Nancy on and she caught Caroline's eyes. The latter was, needless to say, very confused.

Sparing a smile, Halley caught up with her and offered a hand; she was hesitantly given the coke bottle. Mr. Cae paid no mind to her and only continued his way to his car.

"So," Caroline finally said, looking over her shoulder to Nancy and Jonathan—they were caught in conversation, "Is that Wheeler?" it was more a judgemental comment than a question, "you guys are... friends now, or something?"

Mr. Cae opened the backseat for them, and the girls placed their respective items on the bench. "Or something," Halley said, giving a bit of a shaking laughter. Friends were complicated. It necessitated a mutual agreement, and for all Halley knew, Nancy was only looking to be civil for the time being. That's not to say she wouldn't jump at the chance of rekindling what connection they had, and keeping the flame alive this time.

"Oh." She picked at her nail. "I gotta go, Halley. My mom's waiting for us," she gestured over to her dad, and gave a forced smile. "I'll see you around."

She stood there as Caroline climbed into the passenger seat, and began talking to her dad, only looking over her shoulder a few times as they drove away.

Halley had to keep herself focused. Nancy and Jonathan were waiting for her, and she couldn't dwell on the strange interaction with Caroline at the moment, so she turned, took a deep breath and made her way to where the two were waiting by the door of the shop.

It was empty inside. Aside from the cashier and the seemingly miscellaneously placed items. They split up to tackle it all.

Each with their own isle it was like a treasure hunt that none of them particularly wanted to be on. Halley noticed strange plastic turkeys, dusty from lack of attention. She sidestepped them, and grabbed an old wooden baseball bat. The only one she could see sitting behind one of the birds.

It wasn't that they were all looking for separate items, actually, more the exact opposite. Each of the trio was trying to find the best weapon of defense against a giant ass demon monster. If some of their finds overlapped? Only more protection on their side.

The isles were stout, and Halley could easily see over them, giving her a perfect view of her brother picking up their main event. The canister of fuel along with an ample supply of lighters.