CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

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Judy and Hopper leaned against the counters in the kitchen, sipping on their first cup of coffee in the morning

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Judy and Hopper leaned against the counters in the kitchen, sipping on their first cup of coffee in the morning. This had been something they'd done almost every morning for a long time. Whenever they both woke up before El, or while she waited for Mike, they spent that silent time together. Sometimes staying in silence was comforting, mostly because of their busy schedules. It was a moment that they almost always cherished, even if it wasn't quite as long as either of them wanted it to be.

Only this morning they stood watching El over the rims of their cups. Judy couldn't keep quiet for very seeing her sister walk in and out of the cabin and up and down the porch.

"What's up with her?" She asked after taking another sip. Mike hadn't come to visit El yet and it was about an hour after the time he normally came.

"Don't know." Hopper finally said, taking another sip as well. "What's up with you and that boy?"

"Who?" she asked, turning to him, confused.

"Steve."

"What about him?"

Hopper shifted his eyes away from her and chuckled. "Are you dating?"

"What? No, dad." Judy got defensive.

"I don't care if you are." He replied, "I like the kid, but I don't want you to hide it from me."

"I'm not hiding anything. We're not together."

"You sure? I mean, you're always on the phone with him, always spending your free time together... you chose to work at the same place..."

"That was all Steve, okay?" She lifted her hands up in defense, "And he's my only friend now. Of course, we're going to hang out."

Before Hopper could say anything else, El quickly rushed through the front door, immediately dialing a number on the landline that hung on the wall in the kitchen. Judy looked at her father in confusion as El dragged the phone to her room, closing the door behind her. After about a minute or so, El walked back out of her room with the phone, hanging it back on the line without looking at the two people ogling at her from the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

Without answering Hopper, El walked back into her room, slamming the door behind her. As Hopper took a bite from his bowl of cereal, he smiled.

"Dad?" Judy draws out, looking at him from the side. "What did you do?"

She knew that if Mike hadn't come over already this morning, whatever had happened whenever she wasn't home the night before must've been ugly.

"Solved a problem."

Judy couldn't say anything to that dull and cryptic reply so she just nodded with her eyebrows raised in worry. She took another sip of coffee, looking out of the bay window above the sink, watching as the familiar car rolled down the cleared path to the cabin.

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