kitkat's ★ vance hopper

[03] 15.09.79

15TH SEPTEMBER, 1979.

19:09, GRAB N' GO.

CAROLINE'S FRIENDS MEET VANCE.

Caroline had been invited to stay over at Marilyn's house that friday evening, thankfully she lived close by to the local grab n' go so Caroline didn't have to skip out on her friday night tradition. It took some convincing for her two friends to come along with her, both scared of the Hopper boy and wanting to avoid his temper. Her two friends rarely listened to the whispers passed around their school, so they were not aware of the kindness shown to her from him. Of course, the rest of the school knew, which had lead Vance to fight maybe one or two people.

"ok, me and Mary will get the slushies and you get whatever you needed us to come here for, Car." Frances laughed at Caroline's earlier insistance of being here. She thought for a moment of telling them the real reason, but decided against it for reasons of possible judgement. At this point she was only going for Vance, half her favourite snacks her mother bought with the weekly shop and they lasted long enough. She liked how Vance would see her arrival and finish his pinball game, without a word she would point to her kitkats and whatever else she wanted. He would get them for her, a short conversation would ensue and then she would leave. It was simple, easy.

"shut up, it's like part of my routine now or whatever." Maybe she should tell them, I mean friends tell eachother this kind of stuff right? It's not like it was a crush or anything, well not a serious crush. The bell rung above them as they entered, and Mary and Franny made a beeline to the slushie machine. Anything to avoid Vance.

Caroline took hesitatant steps towards where Vance stood, walking slowly as to not interrupt. After a few seconds, Vance recognised her presence by the strong smell of her cherry perfume. It filled his mind entirely, and even if he wanted to only focus on his game, he couldn't. A small smile showed on his face as Caroline came into his line of vision. He'd usually atleast try and finish on a high note, with some cool pinball move, but now he stopped playing immediately.

"what's cookin' kitkat?" Vance immediately scowled at himself. 'Who the fuck says what's cookin'? Who am I? What the fuck she probably thinks I'm some fucking loser oh my god.' He thought to himself. Instead of a disgusted look, Caroline blushed. "i'm solid Vance, how are you?" Vance stood wide-eyed at her question, he couldn't think of the last time someone asked him that. "yeah, yeah I'm ok. kitkats again?"

"and some hershey's kisses, please. they're Mary and Franny's favourite." Caroline could easily reach hershey's kisses, but Vance didn't mind picking them up for her. Maybe he could see like a gentleman if he did. "oh cool, you doing anything special?" This wasn't unusual for Vance to ask, often being interested in her weekend plans. Although Caroline never found herself doing anything special.

"we're having a sleepover! they're over getting us slushies. I'm really excited."

"that must be pretty nice. you better be getting a strawberry slushie, all the others are criminal."

"what?! no way you like strawberry, it's so gross."

"no way you don't, kitkat. It's amazing."

"nuh-uh, cherry all the way."

By this time, Marylin and Frances had already acquired the group's slushies, and were waiting for Caroline to come with her chocolate. When they turned the corner to see what was taking her so long, the pairs jaws dropped to see their sweet Caroline stood giggling and talking to Vance hopper. Not only was she giggling and talking, so was he. They both had light blushes dusting their faces, and Caroline kept tucking a falling strand of her behind her ear.

"my god, Mary. our sweet little Caroline is going to be corrupted or dead in seconds." Frances spoke, worry filling her eyes. "no way, Frances. they're totally into eachother." Marylin had always been better at spotting crushes between classmates, but she'd never expected one to be Hopper. "do we go over?" Before Marylin could reply to Frances, Caroline spotted them trying to hide behind the card rack and waved them over.

"they look so stupid trying to hide like that." Caroline laughed, holding her sweets to her chest. "why are they trying to hide anyways?". "well, you do have a bit of a reputation Vance." That hadn't even occured to Vance, but part of him suddenly became angered that her friends could have swayed Caroline's opinion of him. "don't worry though, I still think you're lovely."

By now, her friends had gained the courage to approach Caroline and Vance. "Vance this is Frances and Marilyn, Frances and Marilyn this is Vance. we're cool." Caroline quickly left to pay for her chocolate, as Mary and Franny had already paid, leaving her few friends in this town to awkwardly stand with eachother.

"you're not gonna like, randomly beat her up right? she's like the sweetest girl ever." Frances said quickly, never really being the girl to have a filter. Before Vance could hit either of them, Marylin attempted to explain her best friends words. "what she means is, don't hurt her. physically or mentally." Vance did grow angry at this, but decided against any action in order to please Caroline. "I'm not gonna. promise." Although he said this passively and with no apparent emotion, the girls relaxed by it. Caroline skipped over.

"here you go Vancey." She smiled sweetly, before passing him her change so he could keep playing pinball. He barely registered the nickname by the time she'd leaped up to his cheek to plant a small kiss, making both of their cheeks blaze red. "I'll see you later!" Caroline shouted out, before grabbing her friends by the arms and dragging then out.

"oh you guys so like eachother!"