it's the end of the world as we know it.

13. summer of love

june 1985

Sitting atop his life guard post, Frankie slouched in the chair, the umbrella popped open and his tinted sunglasses on his head. He wore blue ones today, liking his little collection he had growing because of his job. It was boiling hot and he could practically feel his skin frying as he sat there, and he groaned. The job paid generously though compared to his friends', which he felt made up for it since he had to deal with the little shitheads of Hawkins.

He drummed his fingers against the edge of his seat as he watched Billy Hargrove walk onto the scene. Frankie rolled his eyes; the moms of Hawkins sat on their lounge chairs they had claimed hours before and fawned over the teenage boy as he strutted past them. It was gross, honestly, though he kept his mouth shut as he climbed down to swap places with Billy. It was finally time for him to clock off his shift, and afterwards, he'd go to the Byers house until it was late enough to go home.

"Frankie." Billy practically sneered his name despite the nod, and they swapped their equipment. While they had their own whistles and things, other equipment the staff shared.

"Billy." Frankie responded, his tone almost matching. He passes Mrs Wheeler at her chair and waved, and the woman waves back with a small smile. In the staff room, he runs into Heather Holloway, who Frankie knew from school, and knows now because he's heard many tearful stories from Nancy over how her father was an asshole to her during her internship hours at the Hawkins Post with Jonathan.

Frankie wondered if he treated Heather and her mother the same way he treated Nancy, and he wouldn't be surprised. Frankie wondered why being an asshole dad was a trend, though he guessed Luke was lucky he didn't have to deal with it; though he only had a neglectful parent.

"Hi, Frankie. How are you?" Heather asked, glancing at Frankie as she leaned against the counter of the entryway.

"Hey Heather. Fine, sweating buckets cause of how hot it is right now." He shrugged, feeling cooler now in the shade and under the protection of the little box fan on the counter.

Heather laughs quietly. "Yeah, it's pretty bad right now. It is mid-summer anyway."

"Yeah. I gotta go â€" I'll see you tomorrow." Frankie says, waving goodbye. She smiled and waved, and Frankie headed off to the parking lot. He cranks up the AC inside before spinning out of the lot and towards the place he now spent a majority of his time.

Frankie was rarely home anymore; between work and his relationship with Jonathan, he was busy most of the time, but recently, his parents' arguing had become unbearable. It was constant that they were, and Frankie and Stella suspected a divorce was on the horizon. While he was old enough to move out on his own, he'd gladly live with his mother instead until he was ready. Anything to get away from his father.

Well, speaking of moving out â€" most kids in his grade were headed to college in the fall, and Frankie planned on doing so eventually, but he thought about doing a gap year as of currently. He figured it'd be helpful to have a handful of money to get himself started, and then too, he'd be the same year as Jonathan when they both started. Either way, he wanted to go to Indiana State.

Arriving at the Byers house, Frankie could see Jonathan and Nancy's cars in the driveway. At least he was home already. He wondered if Nancy were there or if he had dropped her off already; sometimes their times at the Byers overlapped, the trio had gotten close since last fall, and Nancy was Jonathan's best friend.