BILLIE JEAN ( eddie munson.. ) ✔

023. Coming Home, Wait For Me..

Sam Carter didn't know how to ride a bicycle until that night when, pressured by the idea of not looking like a fool in front of Erica and also his newest friends, he hopped on and prayed for the best. It was either he destroyed his chance at making cool friends by falling over and ruining their escape, or he learnt how to ride a bicycle on the spot.

Sink or swim.

He swam beautifully, though a notch slower than the rest of the party, for whom, apparently bicycles were as close to a luxury as they could afford. It must have been a small town thing, because back in Oregon, the most Sam could dream of getting, quite like Billie and Devin, was roller skates, but they were definitely not meant for use alone and hardly the means he was supposed to reach school by.

The only stumble was when eventually, the adrenaline of sneaking out of Lucas' house wore off and they actually reached the rocky ground of the trailer park. Sam felt he was about to lose control of the bicycle he borrowed so he put a full stop with his heels into the ground which crackled, tumbled stone of tumbled stone.

"You good?" Dustin asked after Sam had finally caught up with them. He didn't forget that he was a Carter and right now, that family held one too many curses. "Scream if you need music, buddy."

"What music do you like?"

"Is that a trick question?" Sam turned his gaze to Max, finally dismounting the bicycle and regaining the relaxation of his shoulders.

"No," Max furrowed her eyebrows down. "But if you don't want us to save you, that's fine too, I guess."

"We'll have to explain that to Billie and Barry though," Lucas shivered. "Those two can be scary."

Sam hesitated. Luckily for him, Erica was not around at the moment, because most of her plan was consolidated on her distracting her parents back home. She was going to regroup with them at Eddie's trailer when she was in the clear to sneak out too. Lucas thought she made it sound way more easy than it should have been to crawl out the first floor window.

"Queen," he sighed at last. "I like Queen."

"Dude," Dustin widened a toothy smile. Lucas stiffened a short laugh. Max smiled too.

With his whole face frozen in shock, Sam hurried to raise his hands, "They are good, okay? Freaking Michael Jackson encouraged them to release Another One Bites the Dust, of course I like them."

"No judging," Max shook her head slowly.

"Tubular," Dustin mumbled an inside joke he sincerely thought Lucas and Max would appreciate, but instead, he got numb looks from them both.

"No one says that," Sam whispered to him.

They moved towards the trailer which, to their relief, was empty. Of course, they couldn't possibly have known Wayne was kicked out of his own home by staties before they got there.

"And we are sure they will head for this gate?" Lucas looked up at the gate on the trailer's ceiling, unable to not gulp and shiver. Too many memories of his were linked to that atrocity of color rippling the ceiling and pulsing red. Any second down, Lucas feared a demogorgon would crawl out, a clawed hand would come through.

"They'd be stupid not to," Dustin shrugged. "All we gotta do is wait."

"What if they are stupid?" Max inquired, a chill crawling down her spine at the sight of the gate. Outside the trailer, thunder rumbled the sky as clouds gathered. Rain was hiding in their darkness, its musk scent tumbled on the windows of all trailers.

Horrible sounds filled the Upside Down's permanent night too. Robin and Nancy slid in the safety provided by the shadow of the trees too, barely escaping a bat in diving. Billie may not have had the time to get that shovel from the playground when they ran off to hide, but she had in her to kick the bat down with her foot, step on its teeth-filled head, then stomp to hear the squish that stopped the monster's squirming.