𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 • Steve Harrington

Chapter 17

ONE WEEK LATER
( Saturday, February 23rd 1985 )

ROAMING the record store was always a nice pastime for Julie, but today she had one mission: blessing Steve with musical variety. And looking at the Charity Ball cassette in her hand, she was certain she had succeeded.

She also did some searching of her own, settling for some Romeo Void, but she couldn't stop looking. Even if she didn't buy anything else, she was content with simply looking.

Until she caught a head of red hair in stringy waves down a girl's upper back. She had a tomboyish look about her: a red sweatshirt, faded jeans, sneakers and a yellow-wheeled skateboard held at her side. But that wasn't what Julie recognised about the young girl perusing the shelves. It was the ginger hair and the pale complexion.

"Hey," Julie greeted unsurely.

The girl looked to her right at the older brunette in a grey turtleneck and a black dress layered over it that fell down to her calves. Her long brown hair was in two plaits that sat on either side of her chest, her earlobes shimmering with golden hoop earrings the size of a quarter and a brown purse riddled with badges was strapped across her torso.

"It's Max, right?"

The young redhead's freckly face brightened with a smile. "Yeah. Julie?"

"Glad to know I'm not forgettable."

"Believe me, it'd be a miracle if I did. Dustin doesn't shut up about you."

Julie's nose wrinkled. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he has a total school girl crush on you."

"Yeah right," she said doubtingly.

"But even beyond that, your goal last week at the game was so awesome," Max said genuinely. "No one just forgets something that."

"It was a lucky shot."

"Those girls were on your ass and you just breezed past them like it was nothing." Max cocks her head, "I'd hardly call that lucky."

Even though Max's kind words quirked a small smile on Julie's lips, she chose to deflect. "D'you find anything yet?"

"I'm just looking around mostly. My mom got me a walkman for Christmas and I'm trying really hard to get the first cassette right."

Julie hummed in understanding. "My first cassette was The Kick Inside. Kate Bush. I'm still obsessed with it."

Max's eyebrows pushed together. "I don't think I've listened to her before."

Julie's head jerked forward. "You're joking."

Max shook her head a little embarrassedly.

Julie settled back, her tongue pushing at the inside of her gum. "That just won't go. Come on."

She made her way across the record store like she owned the place, and Max followed suit.

"I mean, it's not a total surprise, she's British. I actually found her through this cover of her song Wuthering Heights that Pat Benatar did which doesn't remotely come close. I mean, it shook the ground a little beneath my feet, sure, but there's only one Kate Bush."

She picked up a copy of The Dreaming cassette from a shelf and held it over to Max that had stopped right beside her. "This is her most recent record."

Max accepted it from her grasp and observed the sepia filtered album cover.

"I think it came out when I was a sophomore or something, but it's basically everything. I promise you, she will change your life."

"Okay." A small side smile played on Max's lips. "I'll take your word for it. But if you're wrong I expect immediate compensation."

Julie chuckled at her wryness. "It's a deal."

Max glimpsed at the cassettes Julie had in her hand since she was first greeted by her. "What have you got?"

"Warm, In Your Coat, which is for me, and Charity Ball, which is for Steve," she explained, holding them each up as she introduced them.

"Is it his birthday or something?"

"No," Julie frowns. "I just got it to spice up his music stash. Not to say it's bad or anything but, Jesus, it's fucking one dimensional." She shook the Charity Ball cassette, adding, "What will spice up a stash better than a rad all-girl rock band?"

"So you just got him a new cassette just because?" Max shrugs.

"Yeah, pretty much. Made him a mix too. If the moron takes it for granted I will kill him with my bare hands."

"And you're just friends?"

Hearing the traces of scepticism in the young girl's voice, Julie sternly said, "Okay, use your words. What are we saying?"

"That you're a good friend. A better friend than me that's for damn sure. Who's the all-girl rock band that album's by?"

Julie's eyes widened. "You don't know Fanny?"

Max grit her teeth awkwardly.

"Are you living under a cultural rock?"

"I'm from California."

"That's even worse, what the hell?" Julie cries. "No, you know what? How about I swing by yours tomorrow and drop you a few of my cassettes?"

Max's eyebrows almost flew off her forehead. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. You can borrow them for as long as you like. Fuck it, put this back," she snatched The Dreaming cassette out of Max's hand, returning it to its rightful place, and hit the Romeo Void album she was holding in her palm instead. "Get this instead and I'll loan you my Kate Bush shrine."

Max was flustered and a little overwhelmed. "You don't have to do all that for me."

"Probably not," Julie says softly, "but it doesn't mean I don't want to."