Time After Time {Steve Harrington x OC}

1

Hawkins public pool was at the height of its evening rush, the combination of children screaming and splashing in the water plus the intense stench of chlorine and hot sun beating down was enough to make anyone a little nauseous. 

Sadie breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped into the airconditioned guard office, having just spent thirty minutes out in the chair. 

"Mel, we've got to switch to twenties, it's way too hot out there."

The balding pool operator didn't look up from his crossword. "We're closing in half an hour, do you really wanna go back up again?"

Sadie glanced through the front window at the chaos on the pool deck. 

"No, I do not."

"Then we'll keep it at thirties and if none of the guards die of heat stroke we'll consider it a successful labor-day weekend." Mel wet his lips, "Okay, help with this last word. If you get it in two minutes you can leave early." 

Sadie sat down on the first aid bench, "On it." 

"Four letters. Hint is: 'girl's name; someone that may be found wearing raincoats.' What the hell does that mean? Fucking New York Times and their hippie bullshit! You know, they used to be a reputable institution--"

"Lola"

"What?"

"Lola. It's a song by the raincoats. Well actually it's by The Kinks--"

Mel was already writing the name in and had clearly stopped listening. 

Once he saw that "Lola" worked, his eyes left the paper--something they only did when someone was drowning--and looked up at her. "You sure you don't want to work indoor over the school year? I could use some brains in this sea of bozos." He gestured through the window at the guard currently in the chair, Tommy H, a class A douche that was flirting with a patron instead of reprimanding the five kids doing flips into 3-foot-deep water. 

Sadie shook her head, "Indoor's meant for the bozos Mel, there's so much less at stake."

The man just grunted and held out an envelope containing her last paycheck, "See you next summer Mealey."

"I highly doubt it, Mel."

Sadie grabbed a freezer pop from the office fridge before heading out through the front of the pool toward the bike rack. As she headed home on her electric blue bicycle, "Lola" by The Kinks blared through the headphones connected to her walkman.  She had skipped to the song on her well-worn mixtape, feeling it was only appropriate. 

The ride from the pool to Sadie's house went right through downtown, and Sadie figured she might as well cash her check and stop by Hawkins' record store before going home. She'd become quite familiar with the little town over the last two months. While the summer had been gorgeous, bright, and sunny, a gray gloom was starting to blow in as September began, and all of the stories Sadie had heard were beginning to feel a bit more real. 

Working at Hawkins Public Pool had not been a picnic, but it had introduced Sadie to her first friend (and informant) in town. Caroline Johnson was also a rising senior at Hawkins High, she was hilarious, blonde, and captain of the Lacrosse team--which meant she knew everyone and therefore everything. 

Caroline had regaled Sadie with the whole Will Byers story the first time she'd slept over. It had plagued Sadie for the rest of the night. How was it possible that they found the body and had a funeral for him just for it to end up being some random kid? After an autopsy and everything? Caroline told her that there had never been a full explanation as to what happened to Byers, just that he was eventually found. "Lost in the woods".