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The month without Dustin was filled with sleepovers with Heather, trips to the pool, and meeting people who already knew her. It was exhausting with a capital E. Some nights, she would stare off into the nothingness in front of her and try to remember her mom and dad's face - staring at kid pictures of Dustin only did so much - and silently cry herself to sleep because fuck she missed her family.
She missed her children in The Hellfire Club and her family outside of that. Sometimes she would see a younger version of an adult she knew and it would send her into a downward spiral where she'd spend ten minutes calming down in the nearest bathroom.
"Oi, Henderson! No looking that sexy at the pool!" Heather hollered down at her from her post on the life guard tower. Joan grinned up at her friend, flipping her off, and howling at the return bird sent her way. Dustin was coming home in two days, so she was enjoying the time as an only child as much as she could. "Love you, dork."
"Bite me, Holloway!"
Heather imitated a bite in Joan's direction and Joan scoffed with a shake of her head. Behind her the housewives started acting up and she groaned, realizing the time and what was coming next.
Billy Hargrove.
Her friend had already started to descend the lifeguard stand and make way towards the locker room so she could complete her daily ritual of flirting with her future husband and then head out with Joan for their last June sleepover before Dustin came back.
Joan's lips mocked the words of her friend to her right with the low sensual tone of hi Billy drawn out in an unashamed flirty tone. Billy was just as good of a flirt as Heather was, returning the favor with a smirk.
"Hey Heather. Your new sunglasses are bitchin'."
Joan was smart enough to know where exactly Heather had placed the glasses.
She was packed up by the time Billy climbed up on the lifeguard stand and Joan didn't really care for the graduate. He was certainly hot and belonged on magazines instead of here in shitty Hawkins, but the dude was a grade A asshole looking only for a hole to fill and that hole was not his heart.
"Are we still hitting the mall, Heath?"
"For sure."
The mall was a new addition to the town and Joan was excited to see it in all its glory before it burned down and took a gruesome amount of lives with it. Her dad had always refused to talk about it and Joan was pretty sure he had lost a friend or two, or something, because he always got this weird look on his face at the mention of it.
And then would make fun of Uncle Steve's old uniform.
Her side quest was to get a picture of Uncle Steve in uniform and store it somewhere within the walls of the home so when she went back to her time she had some leverage over the man to buy her food.
