IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU

𝟣.𝟤

Going into her first job, Beverly was relatively nervous. It was even more nerve wracking to look down at the schedule to find that Robin, the only reason she even considered working at the ice cream parlor, was on closing shift, while she was on opening. Tom had explained to the three full-time summer employees about the dynamics of working in the mall. Security would arrive at 8:45, and Beverly would be expected to arrive at 9 to open the shop. She would then begin the first three hours of her six-hour shift alone, when Steve Harrington would arrive at noon. When she would clock out at 3, Robin was expected to arrive and take her place. The brunette would then work until the mall closed, and was explained the closing duties of the shop. As the two girls left their orientation, Robin moaned on and on from the passenger's seat about how they were so unfortunate to not have overlapping shifts, but were both partnered with Hawkin's least eligible bachelor. Beverly's biggest grief, on the contrary, was the hideous costume that they were expected to wear each day.

Despite the nearly unbearable May heat, as Beverly ducked from her car to the entrance of the mall, she held a jacket close to her body, trying to hide the navy and white stripes that adorned her body. Her white cheer shoes scraped the asphalt as she dodged the eyes of other teenaged employees rushing to their storefront, and only when she was in the back room of Scoops, Ahoy!, did she strip the jacket from her body and hang it up. Mentally, the girl walked herself through the opening procedures that Tom had explained, and when the mall opened at 10, she was ready to scoop. This process continued five days out of the week, save for Wednesdays and Thursdays, until Steve lazily rolled in at noon, his hat often crumpled in his fist and his arms crossed over his chest. This was followed by limited conversation, at least for the first few shifts that the two worked together. The two spoke enough to communicate their needs in the working environment, but never got any deeper than that, until the end of the month, around 1 pm on their seventh shift together.

"I really want some Thin Mints." Beverly spoke, breaking the silence that befell the mall on the Sunday afternoon.

Steve turned his head from studying the skin around his nails and looked at the blonde. "Huh?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Thin Mints." Beverly repeated, leaning against the back counter. "Y'know, like the cookies?"

"Why don't you just have some ice cream?" Steve suggested, gesturing to the cooler adjacent to him.

"I have ice cream every day." The girl replied with a heavy sigh, throwing her arms out dramatically, only to bring them into her chest. "I want something crunchy."

Steve looked around, into the cooler, then towards the back. "I can make you a waffle cone." He shrugged, looking to the blonde as she tilted her head and considered his offer.

"Hmm," She hummed, bringing a finger up to her pink lips. "Okay, I'll take a waffle cone." She finally agreed, nodding once in his direction.

By the time Beverly's shift came to an end, the church rush had hit the mall, and Robin had to jump straight into scooping, not negating the sight of Beverly and Steve's sudden chattiness towards one another. They were laughing, scooting by one another, working quickly. The brunette wondered what had happened to make the working environment significantly less hostile in the mornings, and if it would carry over into the evening shift.

That one morning had set the tone for every morning shift. Steve began arriving at 11:50 so he could prepare Beverly a waffle cone, Beverly would use her fifteen-minute break to run across the food court and bring back soft pretzels, and the two would talk the entire three hours that they got together. As June came and they barreled through it, Steve eventually, with the help from his younger friends, gathered the courage to invite Beverly to his pool, after she had spent the day prior telling him about how weird it was to go to the public pool and be watched by her ex-boyfriend.