/ "and i have to speculate that god himself did make us into corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clay" /
Michelle "Mickey" Hopper has a lot of problems. An alcoholic father ignoring the loss of his youngest daughter, her sister, Sarah...
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...Friday, November 11, 1983... asleep - the smiths
Mickey was zoned out, watching the Indiana suburbs pass them by as they moved towards the outskirts of town. She was even unaware of her violent picking of her cuticles. But Steve was watching this assault nervously. His brain searched for topics to get her out of her own head before she'd start bleeding.
"So, since when are you and Nancy friends?" he asked.
She looked up suddenly and her fingers stalled their movement. "What?"
"You and Nancy? When did you guys get close?"
Mickey shrugged one shoulder. "Close isn't exactly the right word. We're just... cool now, I guess."
"So why the change in heart?"
"A common cause," Mickey said with a smile. "Barb's missing and we decided to work together. I've got an in with the police department so it felt... natural. And gave us an excuse to have some time away from you."
"Oh so I was the problem?" he laughed.
Mickey rolled her eyes, her eyes taking on a mischievous glint. "Well, obviously."
"Well, most girls I'm with do see you as competition, Brad or no. Makes sense, I guess."
"We'll have to start applying this to all future girlfriends."
"Eh," Steve muttered.
Mickey's head whipped towards him. "What was that?"
"N-Nothing, I just... You know-"
"No fucking way," Mickey murmured. "Do you, like, love her or something?"
"What? No! No, I don't love her-"
"Holy shit! Hold on, let me look out the window. Are there pigs soaring through the sky? I mean, I never thought I'd see the day, but hell must have frozen over."
"Would you quit it?" When Mickey's laughter finally calmed down, he said, "Think you can keep your mouth shut around your new best friend?"
"Steve, you are my best friend. As if I would ever spill your secrets to Wheeler."
He put his car into park in front of the trailer and sighed. "You know I love you, right, Mick?" Mickey wasn't sure exactly what the pang of emotion in her chest was. After all, Steve was only assuring her that their friendship came above all else. She'd done the same thing moments ago in calling him her best friend. But that word, the one they'd said to each other hundreds of times, always did something to her.
"Of course," she said, then held a sarcastic hand over her heart, thereby turning to her healthiest coping mechanism: humor. "And I you."
"Okay. No need to be a dick," he chuckled. "Get out of here. And tell Hop I say hey."
